Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations
by SDI hyper
Summary: A virus infects Megaman, in his search to save him Lan gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to get his netnavi a real body. But it’s not that simple. Megaman x Lan (Netto) , Lan x Chaud(Enzan). Yaoi! Slash!
1. Chapter 1: The first Virus

Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

A virus infects MegaMan, in his search to save him Lan gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to get his net navi a real body. But it's not that simple. MegaMan (Rockman) x Lan (Netto) , Lan x Chaud(Enzan). Yaoi! Slash!

Chapter one: The first Virus

" Did you hear about that new site?" The larger boy asked.

Dex walked at an unusually slow pace, playing with his fingers nervously with his head downcast and an unusually thoughtful expression on his face. At the moment he really wasn't paying attention to the conversation, his mind was some how detached thinking of other things.

Lan walked instep beside him, his hand resting behind his head and his eyes shifting over the surrounding green of the park, all of it was usually vibrant, full of life, cheery even. Not today though, today everything seemed to be considerably duller, the usually vibrant plants held a darker tent, and the sky overhead was becoming increasingly dark from the gathering gray clouds. "No." Lan spoke tired voice, his current mood as well as his friends seemed to match today perfectly.

Neither of them were feeling particularly well today, Lan more so then Dex. He had a tendency to get physically sick when ever he got really depressed, he knew he'd be nauseous by the time he got home.

"It was on the news last night. It suppose to be something that will revolutionize P.E.Ts" Dex explained.

"What is it?" Lan asked, that seemed to peek his attention.

"I don't know, it should be ready by tomorrow. That's when they're showing it off."

Lan's eyes glimmered with the small hope that whatever it was it could make a difference in his situation...no, three days would be too late... "Oh..."

A cool, humid breeze blew through the park, tilting the grass to the side and rustling the leaves on every tree. Finally a another gray cloud settled over the sun, not a ray of light made it through, completing the appropriate bleak atmosphere for Lan's day.

"Well, we both better get home, it looks like it's gonna rain." Dex's voice held evident disappointment, it was so strange to see him like this, he wasn't the type of person to be in this type of mood. Usually when he was feeling sad he got angry, 9 times out of 10 he got mad when he was angry. But the situation caused for this type of contrast in emotion, things just weren't going in his favor this week, ending even worse today.

"Yeah…" Lan nodded, inanely his head titled back and his eyes turned to the sky just now rumbling with a low thunder. "Dex, I'm sorry about Gutsman ." He couldn't seem to look at the other boy when he said this, he just continued to look away...He winced lightly when a drop of water fell from the sky and landed on his nose.

Rain seemed fitting for this day.

"Yeah, and I...uh...I'm sorry I couldn't help." Dex suffered from the same awkwardness when he said things like this, but he spoke sincerely.

This was the first time that Lan had ever seen or heard Dex like this, he wished that he'd get back to normal, he'd get mad like every other time something made him depressed. But he would snap out of it in a day or two...right? "Dex..."

Things could only get better from this point, at lest that's what Lan kept saying to himself. This was the worst right? Things could only go up...Maybe if he kept repeating to himself...

The soft rain began to pound to the ground, hard. "Great! I didn't think it would start already." Lan lifted his arm to his forehead to keep the water from hitting his eyes, it seemed to be blowing in his face. He turned around and began walking with hasty steps. "See ya Dex." Lan waved a half hearted goodbye to Dex who headed in the opposite direction before running off.

"I'll E-mail you if I find out anything that might help." Dex called out before turning to leave.

! - ! - !

Lan stopped by the park exit, quickly retrieving his skates from his bookbag and putting them on as best he could with out sitting down. The boy grimaced at the hard rain drops and the light roll of thunder changing this from a heavy shower to a storm.

A small thought crossed his mind that at lest he didn't have to worry about his PET getting wet. But that content thought quickly changed in to a depressing one and he shunned it away.

Megaman and the PET were waiting at home, which he really had to get back too. It was the reason he was so anxious. The only reason he'd left him alone was to go find Dex who'd had the same problem he was having right now.

Lan skated through the now wet streets, watching the sky grow darker and the streets grow brighter with lights of the city. It was only 5:30 but it looked like night time, making the rush hour drive a little harder then usual. "Great!" Lan sighed, shaking the water from his hair, only to be soaked again by the rain with in a few seconds.

This was not his week, well it couldn't be considered a week, it had only been three days but arguably the worse three days of his life.

Lan's mind inanely began to drift as his body moved on it's own with out any focus, to think about things, mostly Megaman. The thought started to make him smile a little, he only had good memories about him, nothing unpleasant whatsoever.

That made this even harder for Lan, his best friend, the person he loved more than anything else, knowing that all of that would…..'No, I shouldn't say that! There's still a chance...' Lan told himself, staring blankly at the wet streets reflecting the colorful lights of the cars, stores, buildings, street lights, and about everything else blending together in a mixture of vibrant settings.

The sky started to rumble with more thunder, streaks of lighting flashed distantly. This situation looked ominous, but everything about this day did... "I wonder how Megaman is doing right now..." Lan started to feel immeasurably bad about leaving Megaman at home. If it was possible to feel worse then he already did.

"I had to do it…..I couldn't risk it." Lan reassured, his head hanging down partly from the rain, mostly from his current state of brooding in his thoughts. It didn't matter how bad the situation looked, Lan couldn't give up hope because that was the only thing he had right now, besides, he had been through worse situations with Megaman...he'd pull through this one, right?

"No I haven't……" Lan mumbled, this was the worse, everything else he had been through had some way out of it. They could fight their out of it together…but his time they couldn't, they had no way to stop what was happening now. 'Not yet…' Lan corrected himself.

But somehow he didn't believe he could get out of this, there was no way it would happen.

! - ! - !

Lan ran in to his room, prying the door open, throwing himself threw and closing it behind him just slamming. He lend his back against the door, his chest rising and falling rapidly with panting breaths, he couldn't seem to get his words out.

After a few seconds he reclaimed his breath enough to move from the spot, leaving a light pool of water where he'd been standing. "Megaman? Are you alright?" Lan asked worriedly, taking off his shoes.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Megaman replied as cheerfully as he could mange.

The PET screen resting on his desk was half blank with the other half blinking, every once and a while it would stop blinking and the blank area would flash with an image and Megaman could be seen clearly.

It went with out saying that Megaman had the same problem that Gutsman had, it was simply a virus, but not a normal one. Usually viruses would take a netnavi form, those were the standard viruses, this one wasn't so advance.

This one was different, this one didn't just destroy or altar a files in a system, this one was effecting the netnavi itself, and about everything else in it's way. The problem was that no one knew exactly what it was doing to Megaman, as far as anyone could tell, this wasn't a virus at all.

Lan pulled off his shorts, tossing the soaked close messily aside for the moment, or when ever he got around to picking up, before removing his orange vest and his shirt. They too were tossed in a messy pile nearby, leaving him dripping wet in nothing more then his boxers. "I'm sorry for leaving you here, but I had to…." Lan told him pleadingly, almost as if he had to make him understand how sorry he was.

"Lan, it's ok, you had to go to school." Megaman said that hoping that in the off chance that Lan had found out something about what was happening to him.

An anger flared up in Lan, an uncharacteristic one "I couldn't find _anything_, even Dex couldn't tell me anything!" Lan slammed his fist on the desk, his eyes narrowing with a sense of angry for himself. "It was a complete waist of time! I'm not going anywhere else until I fix this."

After a deep breath Lan finally unclenched his fist, lifting his hand to his headband to rub his forehead. He was right at the park, he was starting to get nauseous, no to mention the pounding headache.

"Lan you can't do that." The PET screen flashed, returning to a normal image of the netnavi. He had a pained expression on his face... "Don't worry about me so much." Megaman tried to sound normal, but every time his spoke his voice sounded a little shaky.

Yeah, this situation seemed hopeless.

In two days, every anti-virus created tried and failed, every possible method Lan's father was able to use had also failed, Of course he couldn't use anything too deep, he didn't want to infect his systems with whatever this was. How could he help anyone then?

It came to a point where it seemed Megaman couldn't be saved, everyone told him just forget about it. His father told him spend what time Megaman had left with him if he was truly that depressed over this. All of that had taken it's effect, Lan half gave up, he still looked diligently for a way to stop it.

But now it started to finally sink in that it just wouldn't happen……

Lan shifted around in his drawers with quiet anger while Megaman watched him silently. Just seeing him like this, so angry with himself for something that wasn't his fault he, angry for something he couldn't control. He couldn't take this.

"Lan!" Megaman called out forcefully, half shouting. "We can't keep this up, we both know what's going to happen to me and I don't want to waist anymore time." his voice began to trail off, a little disheartened. Why did Lan have to be this way? Megaman had given up on false hope and excepted reality, this was just something that couldn't be helped. All he wanted to do now was just spend his time with Lan, how could he do that with Lan like _this_!

"I don't want to talk about it…" The boy paused, mistakenly saying what he was thinking instead of what he wanted to say. "I mean….You shouldn't be talking like that." Lan shifting through the drawers more frantically now, already forgetting what he was looking for, but he didn't care at the moment. Instead he sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

"How do you think I feel? It's happening to me!" Megaman shouted, his voice flared with anger enough to rival Lan's. "I just want..." The navi stopped, lowering his head when he realized that shouldn't have been getting so mad..."How long did it take for Gutsman?"

"4 days." Lan said, still somehow unable to remember that he was searching for dry cloths despite the fact that water was dripping from his hair. His mind was to clouded to think about anything else, so he just gave up, slamming the drawer shut.

It was silent in the room now, Megaman was avoiding making eye contact at Lan. It didn't matter at the moment anyway, the screen started to malfunction making Megaman completely invisible, it flickered before becoming completely white.

Lan just stared, his only thought that it was really depressing to watch your best friend die in front of you.

Thankfully after a few more seconds it returned to normal. "Lan?"

Lan quickly down cast his eyes to avoid looking into Megaman's eyes, staying silent.

"I just want to thank you….for everything ." Megaman found himself looking down also, trying to avoid anything he might see in Lan. He just couldn't look at him...he just couldn't while saying something like that.

"no…" Lan's voice had become so quite that he was almost talking to himself.

Megaman looked up "Huh?".

"No." Lan clenched his hands in to tight fist, his hands became so tense that his arms began shaking lightly.

"Lan?"

"No…..No way!" Tear began to stream from his clinched eyes, a small sob forcing it's way from his throat no matter how he treed to repress, all mostly from anger. Lan slammed his fist in to the desk, shaking everything. "No I can't... I won't let it end like this!" more tears streamed down his cheek, his fist fighting more and more.

"Lan." Megaman watched the boy, growing angry at himself because he couldn't do anything but talk to him.

"You're my friend, I can't just let you die." Lan's whole body was trembling now.

He couldn't take this, watching it was like being stabbed in the heart. "LAN!" Megaman shouted, trying to make him listen.

Lan burred his head in to his arms, clinching his fist tighter, he couldn't stop himself from crying. He couldn't repress the loud sobs that came freely now.

Megaman mentally kicked himself, at lest if he were out there, he could touch him, hug him, something, anything other then feeling useless inside of the PET. 'Damnit!' He yelled in his mind. "Lan…..What do I say…..what _can_ I say….I love you?" No, Lan had heard him say that enough. "…..I'm sorry?…Anything! Just…don't cry, Don't do this to me." Megaman couldn't stand to see him cry, it was like death, slow and painful one worse then the one happening to him now.

It took him a second but Megaman realized he had said that out loud, Lan didn't even look up.

This whole thing was tedious, stressful, and futile. Lan knew that, how could he not? He just couldn't take it anymore….


	2. Chapter 2: I have to save you

Chapter 2: I have to save you….

It was about 3 hours later when Lan decided to try again and go back in to his drawers to retrieve some dry clothing. That time period between when Lan got home until now did nothing to calm the raging storm outside, the thunder still was blaring, the lighting flashing sporadically, and it was still raining as hard as ever.

Lan was completely undeterred by the weather or anything else around him, he still diligently searched for anyway to stop this 'virus' if you could call it that and completely ignored everything else. Including himself. It was why he waited until now to actually find some clothes.

He also talked with Megaman more then he usually did, up until the third hour. Around then Lan was already dead tired, he could barely keep his eyes open. As much as Megaman pleaded and begged him, he refused to get some rest.

Even though vision was getting blurry, and that was when he could keep his eyes open long enough to notice it.

With himself falling asleep fast, Lan switched to other methods to stay awake, now he was at his desk with a large mug of coffee he'd taken from the kitchen. An upgrade from the cup he was using before, also using goggles with tended green lenses, golden rims and a black strap that prevented blurring of vision. Something he took from his father's study since he wasn't here to stop him.

"Lan!" Megaman shouted from the PET, it had gotten worse now, he had to speak loudly to be heard.

He already knew what Megaman was going to say, it was the same thing he'd been saying for the past 3 hours. "I told you before, I'm not giving up on you." Lan replied, re-trying the anti-virus programs while he researched other methods.

Megaman couldn't help but glare at the wall at the irony of it all, an anti-virus programs was being used on him of all people. "……Fine, at lest get some rest, It's 4 in the morning!" Megaman sounded more pleading this time because he was pleading.

"Later--"

"Come on! Your no help to me if your too tired to concentrate." Megaman had a point. "Please Lan...if your not going to do it for yourself then do it for me."

Lan was quite for a moment, at first it seemed as if he wouldn't but eventually he sighed and gave in. "Alright… A few minutes couldn't hurt…." Lan slowly and groggily lifted to his feet and trudged to toward his bed, sure to lift the goggles over his eyes before falling face first on to the soft surface, he seemed to fall asleep as soon as he landed…..

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Lan slowly opened his eyes with a soft groan, he laid there for a moment as if debating whether or not he should get up, or he couldn't seemed to get himself move at first. But eventually he lifted his head, the first thing he noticed was the rain had stopped or at lest strained out in to a light shower.

The second thing he noticed was the clock, it was 5:13 pm

5:13! "Oh man!" Lan sprang out of bed so hastily he nearly tripped, ignoring the sluggish feeling he got from sleeping too long. "Hey Megaman!" Lan shouted, waking the Navi who had also fallen asleep, or just appeared to go into sleep mode.

"Huh…Lan?"

"I Slept for 13 HOURS!"

"Lan calm down." Megaman tried his best to coax him to relax, the last thing he wanted to do was get mad.

"I can't calm down! Look at you!"

Megaman wasn't visible anymore, his body was transparent like a ghost, blending in to the desktop behind him. And what Megaman never mention was that it hurt like hell… becoming increasingly painful, and it was substantially worse from when he was last awake.

"Lan! I know, just calm down…" Megaman spoke almost quietly, he was surreally calm.

If Lan would have slowed down enough to pay attention to it he would have noticed something was wrong in that voice. "I gotta get back to work." Lan hastily returned to the desk, at this point he was moving so franticly that he didn't know what to do with himself. He shifted and sorted threw piles of papers just to find where he left off.

"No, I did this…no…this too." Lan was mumbling to himself almost incoherently.

"LAN!" Megaman shouted in a voice that commanded attention. "I can't take this anymore! It's like your trying to save me to death, I can't stand it. I'd rather die then see you like this…..just….calm down…please just..." Megaman's voice trailed off, he didn't know what he wanted to say exactly but he just didn't want to see the boy like this.

Lan stood in silence, taking a deep breath and taking his best shot at being calm as Megaman had just forcefully suggested. It wasn't working so well, but for Megaman's sake, he forced himself.

! - ! -!

"Hey Lan, you got a message from Dex, he wants to know if there's anything he could do to help." Megaman called out.

Lan stretched out over the desk, resting his head in his arms in mild frustration. He was out of options here... "Not really...Tell him to send me the code he has on the virus."

This is when he was forced to face the truth that there was nothing more he could do, he never thought he'd come to this point with anything in his life where he was completely. It was quite depressing really, he was just waiting for his friend to die now, and all he could do was hug the PET tightly to his chest and wish he could at lest hug Megaman this way. He'd give anything to at lest do that before...

About 5 minutes passed when another e-mail came from Dex came, containing the very binary code of the virus. It seemed hard to Lan at first, to be able strip a virus that spread like this. But it was easy now that it was almost the only thing left of his PET, and now his computer now that he'd uploaded it.

'...' Lan looked over the code with his PET, enough of it was left in tack for the console to do at lest some work. He figured if he could get this, he could get his father to get something to cancel it out.

But there was one problem.

"What is this? What dose it mean it can't read it, it's binary code?" Lan stared at the error message in front of him saying something alone the lines that this data couldn't be read and all it showed up as was repeating 0s because of that. But a strange thing happen, when he opened the file on his computer, the numbers '201102' started to pop up in strange places, it didn't make sense, "…How can this effect anything…." Lan stared at the numbers skeptically.

Why was all his file's names start changing '201102'? And when they did, why did they suddenly become corrupt, this was truly a strange virus. How could a code of repeating 0s do this? There had to be something else to this.

Megaman could tell Lan was thinking hard about this because the boy was startled when he said something. "There's another message from Dex, he says that new site opened early. You should check it out." Megaman relayed.

Lan debated with himself for a moment, 'I'm not getting anywhere on this 201102 thing, might as well.'

It'd only take a second, right?

! - ! - !

Lan finally managed to get on to the site, noticing with more depression how surfing the net wasn't a fun as it was with Megaman in the system. Another thing he would miss.

Very depressing.

Lan was currently reading over the content of it, and was a lot of it, most of it interesting. "Megaman check this out: The Zero Divide Network is a revolutionary system for all computer systems. It consist of a network safer from virus and has more all around security. It is like the net, but it is essentially different and better in every way.

It's changed down to the very binary code for your protection, how is this possible? A specially developed software that works with your hardware to recognize a completely different code beyond the basic off and on of binary……Wait, changed the binary code? think it's connected to this virus?" Lan asked, it was just an idea since this virus seemed to be converting every digit of code in his Computer and PET to 0.

"Could be, it's worth a look…." Megaman said unsurely and indifferently. He was just occupying time at this point.

Lan continued reading. "This network can be used for the protection of about everything from home security to documents, to money since it is virtually invulnerable …." There was a link at the bottom of the page labeled Bio-android project.

"It says: The second part of Zero divide is research, years of research was put in to the Bio-android project, everything from the DNA of the human body to the brain. For years Bio-android technology was not available to the public. But now you have the chance to be apart of history making research.

Currently we are only accepting netnavis for this project, in this program your Navi will be transferred to a Bio-android body. As soon as they are completed and deemed successful, they are returned to you in a physical form.

No way! This is it, if I put you in this Megaman, you'll be better then before!" Lan nearly shouted with excitement. This whole thing was experimental with a 55 chance of failure, but Megaman was dieing anyway. There was nothing to lose..

Lan kept reading. "They're charging you 500,000 dollars!" the hope could be heard draining from his voice with each word. Look's like he missed his chance.

This was for research purposes, this whole program was only available to the public since anyone willing to put down that type of money would be feeding the companies research and helping to prefect the process, while paying the full cost of it. This was purely beneficial for them, they had nothing to lose.

! - ! - !

Even though he didn't have that kinda of money, he still looked around the site since he found the whole premise interesting. He eventually came to the member's sign in page, this area was just for those who and were directly involved with Zero Divide and those who actually paid for it.

He didn't see username and password like a usual sign-in, instead a there was character box that went from 1 to 24 characters, but you had to download the software to upload a number. Lan had to admit all of this was a pretty good layer of security. From there he had to go through a half an hour worth of questions and forms, plus setting up the software itself. Until finally they gave him the chance to input a number for himself, the only problem was, you had to have already played the obscene amount of money and entered your Navi in the Zero Divide program to get one.

He could still guess, he had nothing better to do at this point.

"What do you think I should put in Megaman?" Lan asked, apparently he only had 5 seconds to do so, and you couldn't erase a number or letter after putting it in. Most hackers used a program that randomly imputed a code combination, changing numbers if it failed, meaning more security.

This system made hacking nearly impossible, this was already more secure then the any other place on the net and he hadn't even gotten into the network yet. You had to _know_ a code. "Try this number." Megaman indicated the numbers that kept coming up for the virus he was infected with. A file name and type was changed to 201102, already rendering it useless, and then changed it's binary code to all 0s, it was almost as if '201102 was a marker for the areas that would become meaningless data.

Lan shrugged with no better idea and did so, it's not like he had time to think about putting in another one. "I don't know, I think we needed some letters or something, all numbers seems to obvious." Lan said, watching site go through the authorization of the code, during which the software began to take effect and become involved in some unknown way with the process. This was thorough, or a very elaborate plan to get access to people's computers.

He wondered how it worked, what did it mean when it said the software worked with the hardware inside of his computer? He could think of a 100 different -- "Huh?"

He was happily surprised when the code was confirmed. "You can't be serous!"

"What?" Megaman asked.

"It worked!"

They found themselves at an upload page for the Bio-android project, after a lot of reading and instructions Lan found out that this had a system to upload Netnavis, also working with the software he had to download to do so…..

Megaman already knew what Lan was thinking, how could he not. Since Lan had somehow managed to get this far and being as desperate as he was to save him, it was easy to see. "Lan, I know what your thinking but... you should stop and think about it before you do something this." Megaman told him unsurely, he didn't know about this. Who's account did they get into? Maybe Lan didn't know what he could be getting himself into...

Lan wasn't planning on doing it right at that second if at all. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea…" Sure he was desperate but could he really do something this? There were so many things wrong with this course of action that he couldn't even count them all

First, obviously this _wasn't_ his account, in fact after looking around the member in question's area of the site they found that they had got in to a high level one, most likely someone who oversaw the project from the parts of what was there he could understand.

Second, this cost a lot of money for somebody.

But on the other hand, who ever this was most have known about this virus that infected Megaman, and Gutsman if they were using _that specific_ _number_ for a password out of the millions and millions of possible combinations of letters and numbers. That was just too suspicious. And this Zero Divide program fit the virus, it was suppose to convert data into it's 'New Binary Code' This could have already caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage, considering it was still new and no one knew about it. Lan had certainly hadn't. 'They could have at lest put a warning or something.'

Upon more searching Lan found out that he also had access to documents, lots and lots of documents stored over this network. The first one was concerning how the Bio-android's body's are made, things like materials and construction, most of which Lan couldn't hope to understand.

After a few more moments of reading, he decided that it was better if he printed it out and read it later. This document was 50 pages by itself, reading it later would definitely be better.

The next one he found even more interesting, after that the whole situation snowballed until an hour had passed and a mass of papers were scattered in different piles around Lan's room.

There had to be at lest 100 different documents spanning everything from the Bio-android project, to the beta test of the Zero divide network. "I wonder who's account this is."

Megaman found that strange, usually the person's name would be posted in their information section just incase they wanted to change anything. Or maybe the username was there and Lan just didn't see it, Megaman was always better at spotting out things then he was, he just wished he was able to help now. That'd be hard, right now he couldn't even see. "There's no name?"

"No...hey what's this?" Lan looked over another file on the beta testing and development of the Zero Divide network, this specific document Lan found even more interesting in a suspicious type way.

Lan looked over the document, repeating only the necessary parts.

"…The whole aim of this project, codenamed Zero Divide, was to find away with to create a new binary code that was compatible to the old one. Instead of random coronations of 1 and 0, we decided to add a 2 off of the simple concept that 0 is off, 1 is one and the new digit is something directly in between off and on the developed software tunes the CPU to recognize as 2, giving the new exclusive platform of binary code more capability and potential."

Lan skipped around some more... "Inside the software along with a generic driver for the CPU to give it the ability recognize the new code, a small BIOS file was created to regulate the power supply to give reprogram it to produce the 'between off and on ' required. A small program had to be created to convert the regular binary code in to the new advanced code, this type of code can essentially reduce sizes of files stored under this code.

The program was small, only a bout 2 KB, but the developers only managed to finish the first part of it. As soon as the program was written to convert code an error occurred in the system and it started on it on with out the parameters even been finished. It began changing everything around it in to the new code, able to move at a frightening rate because it was so small s.

It spread like a virus, a very efficient one. The binary code for every program it came in contact converted in to a repeating string of '201102' which was written in to the conversion program in a text file for use as a marker, leaving the program or file useless. It spread so fast and uncontrolled that eventually it would reach vital files for the OS and the system would crash, or everything would be converted with out the system crashing and leave them as good as destroyed.

Nothing could stop this new '201102 virus' as it came to be called, the only option we had to isolate the system and destroy it, then to start from scratch. But we were not sure if the 'virus' had gotten out of the system and into the network or even worse, the net. Luckily it didn't and we successfully contained it.

This time we made the conversion program first before we started a new binary code that essentially started as 301102, using the same technique as the first. It turned out successful……." The rest of it Lan already knew, basically how they decided to turn the project in to the Zero Divide network and link it with their research of placing AI into a physical body.

"They _created_ this virus…mmm." Lan didn't get mad like he usually would have gotten mad, as he should been, instead a sheepish grin appeared. It was only right wasn't it? It was there fault that Megaman had gotten this virus in the first place, they created it and weren't able to stop it from getting on to the net. So he was entitled to this...right? "Megaman, you think your ready?"

Megaman nodded though he knew Lan couldn't see him just as he couldn't see Lan, "Yeah." his just as shaky as it had been for the past day, but he spoke more weakly then before, he felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside. It was test of will power to keep from screaming, but if he did that Lan would just get worried.

What was really happening was the converted part of him was conflicting with the unconverted, Lan had downloaded the software provided from the site into the PET and activated it with the account he'd gotten into, unfortunately it didn't help and if Lan had read that last document before doing so he would have known that earlier. Just as it said in that document his data was being converted into a string of 2s , and that was conflicting with the part of his data that wasn't converted yet. That way he felt like half of him was ripped off.

You couldn't copy a netnavi, that meant they had only one chance at this. Lan could worry about any consequences later, he didn't care if there were any, they would be worth it if this worked, this was better then doing nothing. "Alright, Jack-in Megaman….." Lan spoke solemnly as connected the PET to his computer.

"Lan..."

"Yes Megaman?"

"I just wanna tell you, since this might be goodbye...Thanks again."

"Megaman..." Lan shook his head. "You have to have faith, we didn't come this far just to let it end this way."

If Lan could be optimistic about this...then he could be too."...Yeah."...Even if he was trying to be optimistic, he still couldn't oppress the thought that this wouldn't work and this would be the end. "Lan."

"Yeah?" Lan looked down at the screen he could no longer see past, there was nothing more then a flickering white. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was running out of time, and he was.

"Just in case this doesn't work--"

"No, don't say that!"

"Lan please!" Megaman shouted pleadingly. "Just listen to me."

"..."

"If this doesn't work, I wanna thank you for everything. And I lo--"

"No, tell me when you get back." Of course Lan already knew but, if Megaman said it now... "Neither of us can say that until you get back, ok?"

"Sure Lan."

With out another word between them Lan quickly uploaded Megaman in to the system, because of the software it was a completely closed connection so he didn't have to worry about sending the virus in to the net. From there Lan had had to customize a few settings and put in data about Megaman. Since a part of it was corrupted.

"Hmm….Ok, I want him exactly the same." Lan said choosing that option to save time and because that's honestly what he wanted…"I hope this works….."

Lan sat back in his chair with a deep sigh after finishing up and quickly disconnecting from the net. The virus was starting to work on his computer, after a while it would be completely useless…

Lan turned it off, repressing as much worry as he could before going back to reading the hundreds of documents he obtained from that site. He had to, how else was he going to find out where Megaman was?

! - ! - !

"The central severs for this network and facilities for Bio-android production, are located on Covec island……" Lan had organized and sorted each document spread out along his room, finally reaching the last page which happened to be the one he was looking fore.

"Covec island! That's too far!" Lan wined, Covec island was two towns away and about 1 mile out to sea. A total of an about 100 miles distance, a span he really couldn't cover. Ignoring the fact that this whole plan was not well thought out and had more flaws then he cared to admit, if that was where Megaman had gone then that was where he'd go.

And Lan was determined to get there.

'I could take a train all the way to Eletgo city and get a boat to the island….I think I have enough money…." Lan thought about it for a moment, he could make it, this might actually work out for him….even though that was a small remote chance of it.


	3. Chapter 3: Lost and Found

Chapter 3: Lost and found

Lan waited no longer then he had to, wasting no time putting on his skates and heading out the door with out saying so much as a word. It was around 6:30 when he finally left, still early enough to leave for the station and catch a --

_Buzzzz..._

'Huh' Lan had brought his PET along by accident, he had become accustomed to grabbing it when he left out, he hadn't even realized he did it. He stopped right out side of his door, lifting the component into view. The first thing he took notice of was that instead of the flickering white the screen had been before, it was now completely red. The buzz of static emitted from it in short consecutive burst from it a few times before it was silent again. 'What's happening to this thing?'

Lan was a little curious to see what would happen, so decided to keep an eye on it.

! - ! - !

Lan moved down the long street with a hasted speed, as fast as he legs could repel him. He was completely unsure of what time the next train would leave but he hoped there would be another one heading to Eletgo today. 'Come one...'He could see it just ahead of him.

Lan slid to an abrupt stopped in front of the glass doors of the station, quickly removing off his skates before walking inside. He would have run if he wasn't so out of breath, this hadn't exactly been a short trip.

He staggered strait a head knowingly, nearly falling on the font desk positioned thankfully no more then 20 feet from the door. A large board hung behind it, displaying arrival and departure times for the trains.

"... Lan slowly traced down the board with his finger until he came to the one he was looking for 'Eletgo City, Departure time 6:55.….That only leaves me 10 minutes!' "Excuse me." Lan leaned over the desk, looking up at a woman in a white suit with a blue vest and matching hat who turned around to greet him.

"How much dose a ticket to Eletgo cost?"

"First class is $25." She replied.

$25 was no problem, he had enough to get there and the boat couldn't cost to much more. Lan reached in to his pocket…. and unfortunately 'I forgot the money!' Lan managed to retain that scream inside of his head. "When dose the one after that leave?"

"Tomorrow at--" The woman didn't even get to finish before he screamed again, this time out loud.

"Tomorrow!" Tomorrow? He couldn't possibly wait that long, the whole bio-android process wouldn't take that long, it was surprisingly quick. He had to go now!

With out another word he turned around bolted out of the station, seeming to reclaimed his stamina abnormally when thinking of the prospect of being stranded. He didn't even wait until he got out of the building to put his skates one.

'The bank is closer then going back home, I can make it there in less then 5 minutes…' With out another thought he forced his way out of the glass doors and staked at a full sprint on the path he already knew would be the fastest.

But it wasn't long before the PET started making more strange sounds, this time it sounded like someone was trying to talk through static. With out stopping, Lan looked at his PET, he could see the outline of a body. This virus was starting to take form, as much as he wanted to watch, Lan put the console back on his waist, he had to get to the bank.

! - ! - !

After few more hastily passed streets and 2 minutes of time he made it to his destination, finding the bank was closed but luckily the ATM was open.

With a flare of anger Lan punched the machine, shouting loudly. "You can't be serious!"

This truly wasn't his week, what were the chances that the this ATM it was also being effected by a virus, if it was the same one was unknown... Until he saw '201102' blinking on the screen, it was perfectly clear to him then. How could _this_ possibly get the virus, banks (for security) where not connected to the net.

Lan sighed, dropping his head against the broken ATM in defeat, it looked like was going to have to catch the next train... 'I shouldn't even be doing this now... is it going to be to late by then, maybe they'll--' His thoughts were interrupted by something.

Somewhere in the course of lowering his head Lan had caught a glimpse at his PET now blinking red brightly. So brightly he could even see it with his eyes closed. 'Huh?' He curiously lifted it from his waist and looked at it again.

'How did this happen?' Lan couldn't believe what he was seeing... The haze of red he saw before had now taken a Netnavi like form, he had almost dulled blue eyes and long yellow hair pulled back into a tail. Expectedly he wore red armor, almost similar to Protoman's only heavier, embedded in the center of chest plate was a green orb that very faintly Lan could see the out line of the symbol Megaman wore on his chest. On his helmet lay a triangular jewel or something of that nature, also green.

For a moment they both just stared at each other, so many questions streaming into Lan's mind that only coherent thing he could get out was. "Hello?"

He knew from reading all of those documents that the virus had converted all of Megaman's data into what he though was now nothing. But Lan had transferred Megaman out of the PET, so there shouldn't have been anything left to convert, everything should have been nothing more then meaningless streams of unreadable code and this PET shouldn't even have been working right now. So what was this? Was this the virus? Because this looked a lot like a netnavi...no, it couldn't be, Megaman was gone, that was the only Netnavi in this system...

This new form looked back up at him and blinked questingly.

"…..Hello?" It seemed like he was just finding his voice, or finding out that he could talk for that matter.

"Who are you?" Lan meant to ask more along the lines of what are you, but this was the first thing he could think to ask.

"I…don't know…" He was a virus, Lan knew that, but apparently he didn't, but just to make sure…..

"What are He replied unsurely, his voice was slightly deeper then Megaman's, and an entirely different tone.

Lan had forgotten that this was still Megaman's data, the half of it that had been converted anyway. The other part of him was essentially a virus, a repeating, endlessly re-writing code of 0s...no, now that Lan had uploaded the software from the site that repeating code was technically '201102' written over and over. That was if this software altered the hardware to work that way like it clamed to.

He wondered where Megaman's data stopped and where the virus began...when he thought about it, this wasn't just Megaman's data, it was also the system data from the PET that had been converted. Maybe that had something to do with this new thing being created. Which made Lan also noticed that what should have been the desk top behind this new form, it was actually just streaming 0s "What's your name?" Lan asked.

The system file that told him his name was blank, all of it was completely erased, nothing was left, 0. "Zero." the Navi replied, or at lest that what it looked like.

Whatever was happening here it was amazing, Lan would never be able to figure it out on his own. Lan smiled down at him, "Well I'm Lan, nice to meet you." He said warmly, but unfortunately couldn't stay in his moment of amazement, looking up at the ATM with a sadness hinting in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

Zero looked as if he was just a regular Navi, he even acted like one. A distant part of Lan was yelling in an interested excitement at what was happening. "This thing is broken, I can't get to my account." Lan explained, hitting a few buttons futilely. He was desperate and he was running out of time, and with no one else around he had no choice but to look down at Zero.

"Maybe I can help you out."

He really wanted to help? "You want to help me?"

"Yeah."

"You think you can help me out?" Lan wasn't sure about this...but on the other hand Zero still knew enough to be considered a Netnavi, he certainly acted like one, and this ATM was already infected with the virus. If Zero was offering to help, what did he have to lose? It wasn't like he could do anything with it by himself.

"Alright" Zero agreed with out hesitation, he figured he was a Navi, and Navis did things like that. That's what the data still remaining told him, as far as he knew, he was just a Navi.

He didn't need to, but Lan couldn't resist saying "Jack-in Zero." He had to admit that he liked the ring of that. Lan connected the PET to the machine.

The usually secure, with out fault machine was wide open because of the seemingly unstoppable '201102' virus, all of the security (which was the first in front of everything) was the first thing to be infected. Everything was converted to 0s after not being able to comprehend what it was really being converted to with out the right software. Zero, who blended into the system perfectly as if he was always there, only had to denote the amount of money.

"Thanks a lot." Lan said happily, unconnecting the PET from the terminal.

"No problem." Zero said contently, happy to help.

Lan didn't have time to contemplate the fact that Zero helped him before he bolted off down the street again at full speed, pushing himself faster then before. If he made it in 2 minutes before, he could do it again.

! - ! - !

"Zero?" Lan said in a questioning voice, speaking between heavy pants as he moved as fast as he could trying to keep the same pace.

"Huh?"

"This is kinda wired because you're a….virus, but--"

Virus? He was a Virus? But how? "What? Virus?" Zero asked confusedly.

"Yeah, you're a virus" Lan told him causally as if he already knew, at lest Lan thought he already knew.

From Zero's stand point he had enough data on virus to tell himself that wasn't good.

In fact for him it was the most horrifying thing. "But….How?" Zero didn't think you could be a virus and act like a Netnavi, how could he exist inside a PET?

"Your data, you got it from my Navi MegaMan, I don't know what happened after he left, but you showed up like this."

Zero hung his head down, shamefully avoiding eye contact as if he couldn't bare to look up for anything right now. If Lan told him this, it had to be true, how could it not be... Lan...he had data on Lan...wasn't it his? And why couldn't he remember anything? He had no memory...if he had no memory then how could he have data on Lan?

That's because Lan was right, this wasn't his data. But how did he get it? "I'm a virus..." With a sigh he dismissed it as best he could, he was feeling a strong sense of self-contempt, he just hoped just because he was a virus didn't mean he had to act like one.

That's when Lan realized what he had done, and the reaction he'd just gotten, maybe he should have told him that... "...Uh...It doesn't matter though, you turned out ok, if you want too you could probably help a lot of people." Lan said in-between breaths, just as he came to the front doors of the train station. Looking up at the clock mounted above them he could see that he'd taken 3 minutes, he'd really have to hurry.

He was a virus, how could he possibly help anything? The only thing a virus was good for was deleting or altering data in a malicious way, or just being malicious to a system himself which could mean any number of things. "How?" Zero asked. Now he was feeling even worse...

Lan didn't answer right away, he had to order a ticket first and foremost. In a nearly incoherent blur, Lan ran to the front desk, blurted out what he wanted and nearly threw his money down, snatched the ticket out of the woman's hand and immediately Lan was in a full sprint toward the train. "Well, you could start by helping me out. I'd kinda don't have a Navi right now." Lan told him, rubbing the back of his head a little. He was in such a hurry he didn't realize he'd forgotten to take off his shakes.

Zero was confused, as soon as he'd become conscious for the first time instead of a mindless virus that did only one thing. He'd found this nice boy smiling at him, who seemed to know more about him then he knew about himself. It seemed almost like the scene from a romance movie, or a really twisted horror movie. 'Why did I think of that….?' Zero seemed to have more personality then he originally thought.

He couldn't stop the thought of this being the opening scene from a horror movie, which unfortunately seemed more plausible.

Lan pushed his way though the crowds of people until he reached his terminal and just barely made his way onboard the train with a few seconds to spare, flashing his ticket to the sentry on the way in. It seemed just as soon as he took two steps the train began to shake lightly with acceleration, this had been a closer call then he thought. 'Just made it...' With a sigh of relief, Lan made his way through the narrow halls to a private cabin designated to him with his first class ticket.

It small, but he was alone with more then enough space for himself. Taking his seat on the large sofa, he lifted his feet on to the table laying in front of him and took a second to glance out of the window to his right before looking back down at Zero.

"What are you thinking about Zero?" Lan asked in his usual cheery voice.

Zero looked like as if he'd just seen something horrible. "Oh…This strange little thought crossed my mind about how this all started, it seemed like the opening scene for a romance move…or a horror film."

What? That was completely unexpected.

Lan couldn't help but laugh when he heard that, making Zero rub the back of his head nervously but laugh a little at himself.

" I could see romance." Lan said, "But how did you come up with Horror?"

"Well, I'm a virus right? What If something happened to me...and I started acting like a virus. I could just destroy everything….? What type of virus am I?" The tone of Zero's voice when he asked that made Lan laugh again, a virus with an identity crisis, this was new.

"I'm not sure, you were called the '201102 virus'. But you don't seem like I virus...if you did go start acting like a virus, I'm sure nothing _could_ stop you." Lan told him, he knew that much from experience as well as what he'd read.

Zero looked down at himself with an almost wonton look, almost as if he didn't believe himself. A disappointed look began to cross his face.

The horror movie seemed to be a very reachable reality. Zero, who still knew nothing about himself or the '201102 virus', which in essence was the same thing. Only knew that he was a netnavi, or something close to it, and he did _not_ want to become a virus. A small bit of doubt that he was who Lan said he was came in the back of his mind, but he could easily looked threw his own files to find the truth. No...they weren't his files, they were someone else's that he'd infected.

"Don't worry about it to much, if you don't want to become a virus, then you wont be one." Lan said with yawn, that's how he saw it.

Zero blinked in confusion. "But... I already am a virus."

"Your only as much of a virus as you think you are. Just by looking at you I couldn't tell if you were a virus or not, and you didn't even know." Lan was getting more and more sleepy by the word. "You don't want to do anything bad right?"

"No."

"Then you'll be alright."

"I guess your right…." Zero said, watching silently as Lan slowly drifted off to sleep, it was odd because he had already slept for 13 hours before. It was strange how long sleeps could make someone feel more exhausted then rested, and after a few more hours of very stressful activities he was more then ready for another long sleep.

Zero himself decided to try and figure somethings out about himself.

! - !- !

Lan slowly drifted back in to conciseness, it was unclear how long he'd actually laid there before he actually realized that he was awake and opened eyes. 'Huh?' He sat up, after somehow laying down and stretching out in his seat during his sleep.

It had been no more then an hour later, the train just now was traveling beneath the first city, only about halfway there.

The boy stretched his arms out above his head with another light yawn, then adjusting the head band he was wearing. His eyes inanely drifted down to his lap, looking at the PET still clinched tightly in his hand, Zero was-- "He even sleeps."

Lan couldn't help but stare at him and the streaming 0s behind him that made up the desktop, he couldn't believe that he had just made friends with the virus that almost killed Megaman. It may have still done so, Lan didn't even know if Megaman even survived the upload.

This did seem like something out of a movie, what an oddly random comment, but how Zero thought of that was still a mystery. Lan still couldn't believe he may have just made friends with the thing that attempted to kill his best friend. But this didn't seem like the silent virus that killed invisibility and unstoppably.

This seemed more like a Navi that was the same, but completely opposite Megaman. He even had had a weapon, a sword that seemed to be made completely of a white light, it shined like a burning flame. How could something like this come about from half of Megaman's data, where did Megaman's data stop and the virus's begin? 'Maybe he got in to the memory file, took the data from other Navis.' It seemed reasonable, but that didn't mean anything, anything seemed reasonable right now.

Whatever the reason, he knew that this seemed like a good person, Zero didn't even know how to be a virus. But…the fact was that he _is_ a virus. He might just infect anything he came in contact unwillingly, a problem Lan wasn't sure how to deal with. There were so many wrong and unsure things about Zero that...there was no use thinking about them all.

Either way it looked like Zero would now be occupying that PET, Megaman probably wouldn't be able to come back to it if he tried... This whole thing could actually work out well for him, Megaman could have a real body, and he would still have a netnavi.

But there where also a lot of unknown factors in this. The biggest one was could he actually get on the island? It was a small, _private_ island. Second, half of Megaman was corrupted by the virus, would this work at all?

Lan looked out the window with a sigh, watching the train emerge from a tunnel and rise above ground.

His window instantly became drenched in a torrent water pounding against the glass, whatever storm had been over Denteck for 13 hours was planning to stay here for a similar length of time. This was either bad look or just plan ominous, the fact that he found rain everywhere he went, it would probably be raining just as hard in Eletgo city when he got there.

Lan for once found himself thinking this whole thing threw, able to see every flaw, but it was a little late. Megaman was already in the system and Lan was halfway there. He'd gotten this far, if his luck held, he could get farther.

Lan sat back in his seat, resting his hand's behind his head and yawning again. "Megaman, I hope your ok..." As soon as he stopped thinking, he found himself drifting back to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Zero the 201102 Virus

Chapter 4: Zero the 201102 Virus

A loud voice over an intercom woke Lan this time, he didn't hear what it said, but he knew he had arrived from the sudden deceleration and stop of the train. With a stretch and a yawn, Lan opened his eyes noticing he'd managed to stay upright this time, and the first thing he did was look at the PET resting in his lap, it seemed that Zero was coming out of sleep mode also.

"Hey what time is it?" Lan slowly pushed himself from his seat, taking notice of the stiffness in his leg for sitting so long.

"9:30." Zero told him, Lan was amazed that the PET still had enough information converted to keep time, it seemed to have lost a lot of it's functions when infected with the virus. "Are you alright?"

'...' "I'm ok." Lan felt nervous, this was it... A short, maybe 15 minute boat ride was ahead of him and that was it.

He felt even more nervous when he thought about it, but he took a chance and had to follow through with it, and no matter what happened after this was worth the small glimmer of hope. He had to take this chance, he couldn't live with himself if he didn't take this chance , no matter how small, to save his friend and didn't.

Lan walked off the train, treading through the small sea of people in the foreign station, it wasn't that hard to find the exit. When he got out side that's when he really got lost, and all he did was look around. 'Great, it's raining here too.' Wherever he was going he needed to hurry before he got a cold standing in the rain.

Lan unfolded a long pamphlet in his back pocket, a map...one which he really couldn't read. "Oh man..."

"Where are you trying to go?"

"I'm trying to get to the dock but I--"

"It's a mile to the dock from here, go strait." Zero instructed.

"Huh?" That was odd. "How did you know that?"

"There's a lot of data floating around this place." Zero said, "I picked threw it until I found a GPS transmission and looked up a map." And he did it pretty quick too.

Data floating around...that sounded like a wireless network, but everything used wireless networks, there was always data floating around, people could rarely get at any of it. "But...all the data floating around on wireless networks is encrypted, how did you use it?" Most hackers couldn't get into them, they were always so secure, and if they did it was always tedious and time consuming. How did he do it in a matter of seconds?

"I don't know...I just saw it there and I..." Zero's voice trailed off, he just realized what he'd done. "I...I didn't even know I was doing it."

Lan was confused, why was Zero getting like this? "What? What did you do?"

"I saw the data there and I couldn't read it so..."

"You infected it?" And now he understood. Zero infected the data so that it would be converted to something he could understand, the encryption didn't stand a chance. This could potentially be a problem if Zero did it with out realizing it. "Do you remember how you did that?"

"Well...I just looked at the data, and when I couldn't read it I started focusing really hard on it..." Zero paused. "Maybe that's how I did it?"

Lan leaned against the wall and started putting on his skates. "Yeah, just...try to be more aware next time."

Zero couldn't see how Lan could be so calm about this, he just... "Alright."

Lan pushed himself off the wall and skated forward across the street, following Zero's previous directions. It was still raining, thunder could be heard in the distance, making it that much harder to move. The streets had a reflective sheen to them, fuzzily reflecting the street and car lights, amplified by the darkness. It was almost completely empty in the streets of the unfamiliar city giving Lan a clear path, his only obstacles were his lack of vision and a slick ground making it harder to keep from slipping.

"Hey Lan…." Zero looked around uncomfortably as if he'd had something on his mind but was reluctant to as it.

"Yes Zero?" Lan spoke between paced breathes.

"Turn right--"

Per instructions Lan quickly turned down the next street before he passed it. "Whoa!" He was moving so fast that his wheels slipped momentarily on the slippery pavement, he was forced to grab on to a pole to keep from falling. 'Phew.' Now that he'd saved himself from a lot of embarrassment, he had time to realize he'd cut Zero off before he finished speaking. "What is it?"

"What I wanted to ask you is, what's Megaman like?"

Lan smiled at the question, and the how awkward Zero sounded when asking. Maybe he felt he had to avoid talking about Megaman, since he was the virus that did what ever it was he did to Megaman. "Well, He's……" Lan thought about the question for a moment, looking for the right words to use. It was tougher then he first thought. "He's….amazing, he's really strong, and friendly…. Megaman's just….a great person to be around." He was disappointed at what he came up with, there was so much more to Megaman than that.

"Go Left." Zero said, he was distracted this time.

Lan did so, sliding a little off course to the left on the wet streets. "You know, you remind me of him a little." Lan said cheerfully.

"Huh?"

Lan slid to an almost graceful stop, unneeding of any farther direction since he'd come directly in front of a the docks. That was a quicker trip then he'd thought it'd been.

It was really at a large building in front of the docks. A Shipping company that also was a fairy service for the islands outside Eletgo.

When he went inside he found that this place resembled the train station, but he could hear heavy machinery under him and there were no terminals. Even the woman at the front desk wore a similar uniform, which made Lan wonder if they where ran by the same company.

"Excuse me, do you have anything going to Covec island?" Lan didn't ask what time because he was unsure if anything _was_ going to the private island. And unfortunately he was right.

"Sorry, we don't currently have anything to that island."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Lan sat on the wooden deck extending outward from the shore, his head resting in his hands as he stared a the dark waters past the sign labeled 'dock 17'. He didn't even take notice to the rain except for the sound drowsing out everything else and the thousands of splashes imprinting on the sea. "Who would have thought I'd get this far and a little water would stand in my way" Lan sighed heavily. He'd swim if he had to, he _was_ going to get to that island.

"……" Zero just looked up at the boy, he could tell that Lan was still thinking, trying to think of an alternative to swimming. And the last thing he wanted to see was Lan jump into freezing water and try to swim 2 miles out, so he started trying figure out an alternate route.

"Lan! I think I have an idea…." Zero spoke cautiously as if still planning it.

"What?" The excitement was building in his voice.

"I'm not sure what I can do, but if I can get over to that island from the net, maybe I could find a way in."

It seemed like a good idea that had potential for better ideas. "You may have something…..but I'm afraid the closest I can get you to that is from this from here." Lan pointed back to the shipping company.

"I think I can do it." Zero said determinedly.

Lan gave a quick nod and stood up on the prier, he wasted no time in running back toward the building with the perfect place in mind.

! - ! - !

"Alright! Jack-in Zero!" Lan connected the PET to a pay phone booth that turned out to be closer then the spot he was thinking of, he already like saying that, it had a definite ring to it.

! - ! - !

This phone was connected to a wireless network with the phone company, making it much harder to get anywhere from here. For a normal Navi this would have been a hard and strenuous task, maybe impossible. But for a virus it wasn't nearly as difficult, it was extremely easy for him, basic viruses like '201102' were practically built to move in any type of system since nothing seem to recognize it coming before it was much to late.

But this type of system made finding one's direction hard since everything just was a blur of 0s and 1s going in all directions, and even worse it was raining outside. In fact the storm was only getting worse made getting a signal through harder. As soon as he left the phone's systems to connect to the net, that's when his first problem came.

Usually it was a strait tunnel to the next open system, sever, or hub, but this tunnel was blocked in some places, destroyed in the others, imposable in most places. 'How am I going to get though this..?' He'd had some remote success in getting pretty far, until now. Zero tried to take a step, but found there was no way he could get across this huge gap that appeared ahead of him from a failing signal. "Damnit!" Zero cursed himself, though he only had been alive a few hours he knew he wouldn't be attempting this if it wasn't for Lan. He had a pretty good chance at being deleted doing this.

But there was no way across…. Or back for that matter, all coverage and possible signal was now dropped on account of the storm, he was cut off from the Phone's system and his PET. And any way where he could stand safely was fading away with the last of the signal. It looked as if the '201102 Virus' had met it's end.

But like a truly dangerous virus, when forced in to a situation that can destroy you the only way to survive was to immunize and or to mutate….

"Uhgggraaaaa!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Lan waited by the phone, completely sheltered by the glass structure of the both. It had been 20 minutes since the phone lost all signal, and he lost contact with Zero. But he waited, knowing that Zero would probably be ok...

After 30 minutes Lan really started to worry, 'Please Zero, be alright...' Lan looked at screen on the phone hopefully, noticing that it started displaying a blinking 201102, which made Lan remember that Zero was a virus. How could he forget something like that?

He could survive…most likely…hopefully…..could he?

Lan had no idea what happened to Zero, anything could have happened to him. Lan began to wonder what actually happened to the data over a wireless network when the signal dropped? Everything probably was de--

"Lan?"

Lan flinched with a startled outcry at the sudden voice, looking down hastily at the PET held tightly in his eyes, "Zero?" Lan smiled in relief, he was starting to think that Zero wouldn't make it. It'd be very bad to lose his new Netnavi after only a few hours. Megaman was going to have a body (hopefully), and there was no way Megaman could go back to this PET anyway. Why not keep Zero?

"Are you alright?" Lan was a little confused at the altered appearance of Zero, now he had two pairs of long wings on his back, one over lapping the other. One pair was white, the other pair was black, and the orb on his chest was also glowing bright enough to make the faint trace of Megaman's emblem visible.

"Yeah, it got a little hard in there, but I made it." Zero rubbed his head with a large smile across his lips.

"Where did the wings come from?"

"Well, when I was on my way to the island, the signal started to go. I thought I was done fore. But at the last second my back started hurting a lot, and these came out. Well they didn't look like this at first." Zero explained.

How could anything get through a wireless network with out a signal? Zero had just completely left the net and re-entered at another point by becoming a signal himself, a frightening thought really. A virus that just hangs in the air like radio waves being transmitted and waiting to be received by anything capable of doing so. It something you could never get to, and when Zero realized all of that he immediately became very silent with down cast eyes.

"Zero….." Lan tried to think of something to say to reassure him, but there was nothing he really could. "Don't worry about it, you wouldn't do something bad or used it against anyone."

"I don't know….I can't go anywhere without infecting something, and if I can just leave the net and come back in at any point. I'd be a complete disaster...What if I--"

Lan knew what Zero was about to say and immediately denounced it. "Your not going to go crazy and do something like that on purpose." he said firmly. Lan could tell that Zero really hated himself right now, he was a virus and he hated it. How could he comfort him for something like that? "There has to be some way to control it, I mean, you can't really be a virus, it's just something wrong in your programming. There has to be some way to fix it."

Zero knew he wasn't lying, if Lan realized it or not, Zero was technically a glitch in a program.

Glitches could be fixed.

"Thanks Lan." Zero said solemnly.

"For what? You did all the work."

"You really helped me, I don't know what would have happened to me you weren't here." Zero told him, then quickly changed the subject for Lan's sake and to avoid awkwardness. "Anyway, I managed to find a few files, document's, schedules , memos and things like that. But what's interesting about the schedules is that about 98 all of them are shipping schedules. There are 3 deliveries to the island coming into night.

They're mostly things like servers and hardware, but that's not important, what is important is that one of those shipments are coming in by boat."

Lan had to think about it for a second to catch what Zero was implying. "So all we have to do is sneak on to the boat?" Lan asked anticipatingly.

"Yeah, and guess where the boat's delivering from?"

"_This_ shipping company?"

"Exactly! All I have to do is knock down security on the boat and it'll be easy for you."

"How are you going to……Oh, look's like you being a virus is actually coming in handy." If that would have came from anyone but Lan, it would have sounded worse then intended.

Zero just grinned and stretched his wings to bring them back, they seemed to have disappeared shortly after he returned to the PET, where ever they had gone they were back now.

As soon as Zero left the PET using his new 'ability', the screen started to display '201102' as it did before, only this time he wasn't worried.

Lan stepped out of the dry booth and into the pouring rain outside, looked out on to the waters channeled into the dock. He saw a roughly medium sized boat leave one of the docks housed inside a boat house of the Shipping company's (which was almost ironically the company's name).

"Is that the boat?" Lan wiping the water on his face that threatened to stream into his eyes, forced to lifted his arm to his forehead to block some of the rain and promote vision.

When he saw the vessel drift pass him with increasing speed and turn towards the island, he knew it was it. When Zero created this plain, Lan was sure he thought there was enough time for him to actually get on the boat before it left. From that miscalculation it looked like there would have be a change in plans to account for, Lan wouldn't have to sneak on to the boat. It looked like if he wanted to get there he'd have to jump.

Lan looked down at his PET, hoping that Zero had taken out security by now. Thinking about it, if he really tried, Zero could take down a system in a few second, he had nothing to worry about.

With out another thought or anyone to oppose him on this, Lan took a step back, then charged head first towards the edge of the pier

With out hesitation, Lan dived off the harbor, soaring threw the air and above the stormy waters while the Boat was still in the process of turning. That had been his only saving grace, he just barely managed to grab on to the back of the ship before it accelerated again. 'Whoa...!' Lan pulled himself up on deck, the ship was driven automatically so there were no people to worry about seeing him. Just alarms.

He was half expecting flashing red lights and large beeping noises, but nothing happened.

Zero reappeared in the PET screen, "Sorry Lan, looks like the ship was ahead of schedule. How did you make it?" Zero asked, the wings faded.

"I jumped." Lan said casually, shaking the water from his hair as he walked in to the covered cargo area separated from the dock by a wall and a door.

"You jumped? Are you alright?"

Lan pushed open the door softly. "Yeah, I made it didn't I." He peeked his head and looked around the darkened room filled nearly wall to wall with steel boxes, all of them with padlocks on them, mainly to keep them closed then for security. Just see them caused Lan to start thinking of another problem, "Hey, when they come to unload this stuff? They'll catch me!"

"Well, Hide then." Zero said plainly. A simple idea, but one hard to do effectively,

"Where could I hide?" Lan knew that if he hid in any of the places he could think of he'd be found quickly

"Among the Cargo."

In the corner of the room near the door lay about 5 long steel pipes resting upright against the wall, wrapped up in a bundle. "Not a bad idea..." Lan drew out one of them, placing it in to the padlock of the first box he saw large enough to hold him.

Planting a foot on the box, he started to pry open the lock, and after a few seconds of pushing down with all his strength the lock snapped off, falling to the ground with a loud clank. Done with it, Lan slid the metal pipe carefully back in to the pack.

"Now let's see what's inside..." Lan curiously then open the lid. It was just as Zero said most of the cargo was, indeed hardware, more specifically a large sever surrounded by Styrofoam. There was enough room for him to tightly fit in side, as long as he stayed curled up. 'Here goes nothing

With the thought of Megaman hanging in his mind he began to force himself into the box, it was his only way in.

"Are you alright?" Zero asked.

"It's tight, but I can make it…" Lan spoke in a strained voice, but any uncomforted he was feeling was over ruled by the thought that he had made it this far. And he was so close….

"Hey Zero, you think you can get a map or something?" After a lot of shifting Lan was now curled into a ball on the side the hardware, a narrow fit between the sever and the case it resided in. This was really uncomfortable.

"Sure."


	5. Chapter 5: His name was Zero

Chapter 5: His name was Zero

After the first 2 minutes of being stuck in a cramped space he could hardly breath in, Lan had fallen asleep.

He woke up 40 minutes later when the box started shaking violently and from what he could tell by what he felt, landed on the ground, hard. Lan almost yelled after he slammed his head against the cover, but remembered where he was and managed to kept quiet with a few soft moans.

This position was really starting to hurt.

"Zero? Are you there?" Lan whispered, he heard no answer. It was resting on his lap pressed directly against his head so he could easily see it. It was read '201102', which could only mean Zero was gone for the moment. Lan decided to wait until he came back before doing anything ...where was he anyway?

_**I can picture us in the living room by the mantle piece **_

Besides, Zero had the map, and Lan had no idea where he was going.

"Lan?" Zero had returned quicker then expected.

"Where are we?"

"The cost is clear, go look. I took out the security cameras."

Lan nodded, wondering how Zero managed to do that, and slowly climbed out his position with his hands pressed against the box's roof. He was standing in a large cargo room with a dock at the head separated by a slowly closing gate. On the opposite side was another large gate, a lift leading to other floors, sealed by a metal shutter, and a door on the left side of it. The large room was full of steel boxes, some large, some smaller, all in different shapes.

_**and you're tellin me you're lovin me **_

_**put your hands on my thigh**_

The concrete walls, the ceilings, and the tiled floor, all of them were white. This had to be apart of the bio-android lab if he remembered those files right, it was luck that he'd been brought to this one, the other cargo bay was on the other side of the island. For all he knew that was an impossibly long trip.

"I 'fixed' the security cameras, I think the place your looking for is about 4 hallways down." Zero told him.

"Thanks." Lan stretched his arms with a small yawn, shaking a few Styrofoam balls out of his hair. "Are you ok... I mean doing all of this?"

Zero nodded with a strait face, he didn't like it, but he could tolerate it to help Lan. "Forget about that, hurry while the coast is still clear."

With Zero on look out, he could make it just about anywhere.

! - ! - !

_**while I'm starin in your brown eyes **_

_**and the expression on your face**_

Lan opened the door slowly, peaking his head out just enough to look down both sides of the corridor. 'All clear...' He saw nothing but white tiled floors and florescent lights. Behind him was a large gate, he could hear the sound of machinery emitting.

"Know what's in there?" Lan asked.

One step ahead Zero was already patched halfway into the security camera, when he succeeded he used it to look past the other side of the door. "Servers for this floor, probably what that shipment was, a few are missing."

"What would that--" It took only a few seconds for Lan to figure out why. When they first started on Zero Divide project (which turned out badly of course) Those missing servers were what it was originally created over. When the '201102 virus' came about, and since there was no way to stop it, they had to remove and destroy where it was quarantined to stop the virus at it's source before it spread.

_**is tellin me you want my better taste **_

_**so tonight we're goin all the way **_

_**we'll be lovin till the break of day **_

Well clearly it didn't work.

With quiet steps, Lan made his way down the corridor, coming to a split in the path that headed in two opposing directions. "Which way?"

"Turn left." Zero instructed.

The boy complied and turned left, at the moment wondering why no one was on this level. "Where is everyone?"

"This is the basement, I guess no one comes down here." No one really had a need to.

"Guess not." Lan came to a stop at the end of the path where an elevator was mounted in the wall. It was locked by a fingerprint reader and a keypad. 'No way...' "Zero, can you do anything about this?"

With out a word Zero left the PET again.

201102 began flashing across the LCD screen across the keypad, and a green light appeared on the fingerprint reader. The sound of a bell rung as the elevator doors rolled open, it was large, maybe for heavy cargo.

_**There's nothin in this world I wouldn't do for you boy **_

_**I don't care what the others say **_

_**now that I got you **_

Lan stepped into the elevator, watching as the doors closed behind him. There was only three buttons, one labeled 'A', another labeled 'B', and the last labeled 'C'. 'C' was the floor they were on now. "Where do I go?" Lan asked.

Zero was still out of the PET, but 'B' was selected on it's own because of Zero's influence. The elevator began to lower just as the Navi returned to the console.

"Zero..."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry about all of this..." Lan shifted his gaze away from Zero, rubbing the back of his head lightly.

"What?"

"I know you don't like doing things like this, and you wouldn't have to if it wasn't for me."

"Lan...I'm happy to do it for you."

Lan listen at the soft sound of the descending machine, "Really?"

Zero nodded. "Yeah."

"But why?" Lan just didn't see it, Zero barely liked himself, how could he be happy doing things a virus would be doing? "You hate this type of thing."

Zero shrugged. "Because...I just am." Because he was half Megaman. "That's all I can say..."

Lan heard the same bell ring as the elevator slowed to a stop. "...Security is pretty low around here."

"The security is based on cameras, passwords and motion detectors. I disabled the motion detectors and locks, and put the cameras on a continuous loop." Zero told him, he was a very efficient virus.

Zero had infected the Motion detectors and password readers, and some how managed to put the cameras on a playback that he found in a memory data bank.

_**No one can bring me joy like you girl **_

_**All the little things you do **_

"How did you learn to... Never mind." The elevator came to a complete stop, and unexpectedly a set of doors behind him opened up, "!" he flinched from the unexpected sound and burst of air against his back. "Heh heh…." Lan rubbed his head nervously and stepped through to another white corridor.

At the end of this hallway, which looked identical to the others he'd seen, was another split path. "Zero?"

"Go left." Zero instructed.

Taking the left path Lan found two doors in opposing walls. The one on the left had the same locks as the elevator had before while the right didn't have nearly as much security. "Hmm..." Lan carefully went through the unlocked door on the right.

_**Its all about you **_

! - ! - !

"Whoa…." Lan surveyed the area in amazement, this room was covered in red lights shining down from the ceiling giving his own body a red tent as soon as he steeped through the door. Large capsules lined the walls, heavy glass made the body while it was metal with some type of unknown machinery on the top and bottom. It was large enough to fit a person with room to spare, there were about 8 of them, 4 on each side, 7 were filled with green fluid, but empty besides that. One of the was completely empty but had traces of liquid streaming down the sides of the glass as if it had been just drained.

Between each of the capsules lay a console displaying the status of whatever was held in the container. The empty one had 'complete' displayed on the screen, seeing the time frame fit this was the one Lan hoped Megaman had been in. But, where was he?

_**I can picture us runnin in the rain **_

_**After a movie then we spark a flame**_

"Where is he?" Lan said to himself.

"There are other rooms like this, he could be an one of those." Zero suggested, There were exactly 20 more rooms just like this disbursed along this floor and nearly every other level of this facility, getting to them all would not be an easy task.

"Hmm……What about that other door we passed?"

"There are no cameras online in there, could be anything in there." Zero said unsurely.

_**Oh I love it when you scream my name **_

_**Goin 60 in a 30 lane **_

! - ! - !

This door was locked of course as Lan already knew, something important must have been inside. Zero wasted no time entering the system.

But this time it didn't happen as quickly as all the others, Zero didn't return for 5 minutes...

Lan immediately knew something was wrong this time, whatever it was it had to be something big, he could see it by the expression on Zero's face. "Zero? What's wrong?"

Zero had tried to disable the lock... it just didn't work out. "Lan... there's a small problem. There's an error in the system, it's corrupt. There's no way I can open it." Zero was panting heavily, a small sheen of sweat on his face. His wings were fluttered, damaged in places. He had a hard time just making it back.

_**We pull over to the parkin lot**_

_**In the part that's my favorite spot **_

If Zero had this much trouble then it must have been a dead end. "Alright, let's go try something else." With a shrug he turned to leave, wondering if there were really rooms like the one he just saw spread across this whole island then which one Megaman was in...

"No, He's definitely in there." Zero said. "At first I didn't think there was a camera inside, I had to infect the system to get a signal, but that's him." Zero didn't know exactly how he knew what Megaman looked like, something in his memory file he figured.

'No…..these aren't my files, these are his….most of me is.' Zero reminded himself.

It was strange how some rather interesting thoughts came up in a situation like this, when he knew what he would end up doing.

_**Doing just about anything **_

_**We'll be goin til the birds sing **_

"Is there anyway to get the door open from the outside?" Lan asked. Maybe he could break it down some how.

"Nah, It's reinforced."

Things just seemed to be get worse now, to come this far and be stopped by a single door. "You can't get in, I can't get in., what's wrong with this thing?"

"Something damaged this system, it must be a hardware problem... I don't think anyone knows it though." Zero there was a small hint of sadness in his voice when he spoke now, Lan didn't understand what brought it on.

_**There's nothin in this world I wouldn't do for you boy **_

_**I don't care what the others say now that I got you **_

_**No one can bring me joy like you girl **_

"What's wrong?" Lan noticed it right away.

A lot of different thoughts always came up in situations like these, Zero wondered why that was. Was it normal? He wasn't sure since he'd never been in circumstances like these... 'That's why I remind him of Megaman, part of me is him…' "I know a way to get the door open." Zero's voice was even more disheartened then before.

"Then why do you sound so sad?"

"Whatever system controlling the components this room has been corrupted, probably some type of hardware problem causing some data go missing. If I infect it, I may be able to get the door open, I'm not sure I can do it though. But even if I do manage to get this open…"

Ok, something really was wrong. "What will happen?"

_**All the little things you do **_

_**Its all about you boo**_

"Well... If I try to infect corrupt data it will most likely cause an error in my programming…."

Being the '201102 Virus' was a binary code converter that mindlessly changed any data thrown at it, even programs trying to discontinue it. It couldn't stop since that was all it had been programmed to do, that's how it infected. But if the data was corrupted and he tried to infect it. It would cause a serous error in his programming, which would be continuously made worse when the virus in side of him continually tried to infect corrupted data, that would be painful for Zero.

"What will happen to you?"

_**I think its bout time that I make your mine **_

_**Oh what your saying to me boy come on break it down**_

Zero sighed. "My data will eventually corrupt, and when that happens I'm as good as deleted."

"What?" But he couldn't just let this happen... "But… you can't…." Lan now had a real a dilemma on his hands. Should he sacrifice a new friend to save an old one? He liked Zero, but he had to save Megaman. But…..could he sacrifice Zero to do it? Zero was so much like Megaman that it hurt to even think about doing something like this. "Zero, no."

"I have to!" Zero spoke almost angrily, it was bad enough he had to do this in the first place, the last thing he wanted to do was see Lan so sad about it. He just wanted to get this over with, do it for Lan and be done with it.

"There has to be another way….."

"There isn't, this is the only way in to the room, this is your only chance." Zero said pleadingly. He wanted to help Lan more then he wanted to exist, this was Lan's whole reason for coming out here. He couldn't let himself get in the way of that.

"You can't say that!" Lan shouted. "You don't really mean this... I know you hate yourself for being a virus, but you can't do something like this just because of that."

"Lan, you don't have the--"

Lan shook his head frantically. "Your just doing it because you hate yourself!"

"So what if I am?" Zero shot back. "It doesn't matter."

"It dose mater!" Lan knew he shouldn't have been yelling like this but he couldn't help himself, he didn't want to let Zero do something like this.

"It doesn't, this is your only chance at saving Megaman."

The thing Lan hate most about this was that he was right. "I can't let you do this if the only reason you are is because you don't like being a virus."

"I'm not..." Zero said. "I'm doing this for you." He knew he was a a dangerous virus. If someone found away to use him or his worst fear happened and he lost control of himself it would be a disaster, nothing would be able to stop him.

A large part of Lan didn't believe him, he couldn't let him do this, not just out of self-loathing."But--"

_**To find another like you will be a lifetime **_

_**I think I see where you're going baby let it out **_

**_let it out_**

"Lan, it's better this way, I'm still a virus remember?" Zero regained himself, making his voice normal again. 'I'm the reason all of this is happening to him, I'm the reason this happened to Megaman. I….wouldn't exist with out him…I may have even killed him….It's only right.'

Even with that and his strong self-loathing, that didn't change the fact that deep down he didn't want to die, he was a fighter by nature. 'By Megaman's nature…everything I am came from him.' Zero thought, sighing a little, even more of a reason he had to save Megaman.

"I..." Lan dropped his head as his voice trailed off, this was useless..."--can't stop you can I?"

Zero was silent, his blue eyes looking anywhere but at Lan. It hurt to see him like this "It's for the best, I know you want to see your friend. You should be happy I'm gone, I am the one who almost killed him."

Lan shook his head. "No!" he shouted, loud enough to make Zero flinch and force him to look up. "Don't believe that, it wasn't your fault, that was something completely different. It's not you." He said kindly, this almost felt like losing Megaman again. In a way it was, maybe that's why it hurt so much.

"But--"

"No, that wasn't you. That was a mindless thing, you….your much more than that. That was not you, and... I'm not mad…" Lan hung his head down again, a small sniffle forcing it's way out of his now calm demeanor. No, he couldn't cry, that would only make Zero feel worse... this was just like losing Megaman, or at lest it felt as bad.

"Thank you Lan…for everything…" Zero said solemnly, managing to smile at Lan though as he looked up in to his sad brown eyes, this really hurt now. Now he just wanted to get out of here, anything to not see this anymore.

_**Listen to me baby got something to say **_

_**Is it really what I think don't take all day**_

"Well, Thanks Zero…" Lan shifted his eyes away from the screen, staring at the door in front of him. "Goodbye…"

'It's for the best….He'll be happy later…I _couldn't _stay, he's gonna be happier then he would have been if I had stayed.' "Goodbye Lan." Zero sighed, right before leaving the PET with no trace of him left behind but '201102'.

! - ! - !

'I wonder…What would have happened if I had stayed….What if this had worked out…I would have liked to meet him…..I guess, it just wasn't meant to be… It doesn't matter, I didn't know who I was, I didn't have a past so how could I do anything in the future?….Nah… It didn't matter….Well…I guess this is it… Well Lan, thank you…and good luck. I did what I could, I hope it's enough.'

_**Forever is what I wanna give to you **_

_**so what do you say **_

_**Baby I do **_

! - !- !

The door began to make a denying buzz that usually sounded when the an incorrect password was entered. But the buzzing didn't stop as it should have, it continued for another thirty seconds before the whole system went off line.

The automatic door opened a little at about a crack's length before then halting, that's all that would happen with the system shut down. For security reasons, this system was independent from any other systems and networks in a the building so no disruption would be caused.

'It's open?' Lan pressed his fingers into the small crack and pried open the door the rest of the way. It was thick, completely reinforced as Zero had told him, there really was no way to break in.

'Hmm...' Lan curiously walked inside of the room, the regular lights were off, and the emergency lights were on, giving barely enough light to see in the red tented room.

_**There's nothin in this world I wouldn't do for you boy **_

_**I don't care what the others say now that I got you **_

There were 8 capsule laying on the ground horizontally in 4 rows of 2, it was a metal bed with a glass case over them, the device served as incubators for the biological parts of a Bio-androids. Each one of them had a bright red light shining on a screen displaying the status of what was inside positioned on the head of the capsule, except for one in the far corner. All he could see of it was a green light shining from the boarder of the screen.

'I wonder why that's the only that's green.' Lan walked slowly through the dark room, careful not to fall over anything in the red tented darkness. He managed to make it to the capsule without incident, and only when he was finally standing over it could he see that the rim of the glass was lightly illuminated, and through that light he could clearly see Megaman inside, fully clothed in his usual attire though a little wet.

'Thank you Zero.' Lan said silently to himself with a strong sense of gratefulness, it was a bittersweet moment.

_**No one can bring me joy like you girl **_

_**All the little things you do **_

Thanks to him, this turned out even better then it started…Except for Zero's death…

'At lest I got to meet him...' Lan looked over the screen mounted the capsule serving also as a control panel, he could barley read the words 'manual open' in one of the many buttons being displayed. 'This must be it." Lan pressed the button and with a small rise of greenish steam the glass casing slid open.

He stood there for a moment in complete awe, just staring at the body before him as if he was in a dream, he even started to wonder if this was real. Not at thing was out of place on him. "Megaman..." A shaky hand reached out, slowly grazing over his face with a light touch, the first thing Lan noticed was that he was wet. 'I can touch him…' He still couldn't believe that he could actually do this, it was amazing.

He shouldn't have been standing around like this, he had to get out of here before the security system Zero had rerouted and in some cases taken down went back online, or worse someone actually came down here. "How can I wake him up…" Lan began looking around the buttons on the screen frantically for something that looked like it would pull Megaman out of the artificial sleep. He saw one labeled 'manual release', figured it was close enough, and pressed it.

**_Its all about you_**

The capsule began vibrated lightly, a low humming sound emitted from someplace in the machinery, then it all ceased in a few seconds. 'Is that it?...--!' Lan flinched and jumped back in surprise when a strong burst of air shot upward, followed by a green tented steam that burst upward. The intense air blew away the wetness that glazed Megaman's skin as well as his clothing, he was completely dry by the time it stopped.

Lan waited for a second for anything else that could surprise him... none came. 'I think it's alright.' When he deemed it safe enough, Lan leaned over the side of the capsule, placed his hands on Megaman's shoulders and then gently shook him. "Megaman, Megaman ..."

"MMmmm…" Megaman shifted around when the familiar voice awakened him, shutting his eyes even tighter, gently clinching and unclinching his fist as well as other parts of his body as if to make sure he was all there. There was a new feeling about him, it was like he had all the same sense but with a different definition to them, even laying against this hard surface felt different then laying against any other hard surfaces.

Finally after his seemingly, confused, fragmented mind came together, he slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted by out of focus but quickly sharpening the vision of Lan standing over him with a worried expression on his face. His gazed steadily fixed upon Lan's face lighting up brilliantly when he moved.

"Lan…?" Megaman placed his fumbling hands behind him and sat up, he felt like an infant first learning to move. Everything felt so new to him, even the simple task of lifting his hands were greatly exaggerated. 'What... what was that?' A sudden twinge came into his head and his mind was flooded with numbers and visions. Words in a layout format... it was a CPU calibrating his arms, his legs, his torso, and every joint for movement. 'Whoa...'

He was quickly surrounded by a warm embrace as Lan hugged him tightly.

"Megaman!" Lan didn't know what to say, every thing he held back since this all started seemed to be the only thing that surfaced in his racing mind.

He... was in a body, an actual body, with Lan actually touching him, he could feel... Megaman curiously lifted one hand and burred it into the soft brown strands of Lan's hair pressing against his chin... "It worked!" Megaman wrapped his arms around the boy and hugged him back back with an inane since of joy flooding him….

He couldn't believe it, he was actually _touching_ Lan, he felt the warm body and the pounding heartbeat pressed against his stomach. It was amazing, everything that was happening... "Calm down Lan, your heart's racing."

Lan wiped his eyes frantically with his arm to clear away the forming tears before Megaman saw them."I can't help it."

_**There's nothin in this world I wouldn't do for you boy **_

_**I don't care what the others say now that I got you **_

Lan let go of Megaman apprehensively, as much as he wanted to stay there, they really had to go. "We have to get out of here." Lan grabbed Megaman hurriedly by the arm and pulled off the Capsule so forcefully that Megaman nearly fell. He still hadn't gotten completely used to how this body felt and moved.

Lan sprinted towards the door with Megaman silently following with out an understanding of what was actually happening.

The former Navi could tell there was a strength in this body, a physical power, a speed, something that would match what he had when fighting on the net. He just couldn't seem to get a feel for it yet, he could barely move past walking speed and wouldn't have been right now if it wasn't for Lan's corrosion.

It'd take him awhile to get all of this down.

! - ! - !

The hallway was empty just as it was before leaving no obstruction of their path, and since he knew no better path to take he began to backtrack towards the cargo bay with the knowledge that it had it's own internal port that led to the outside. Maybe the cargo ship that brought him here was still there...

Lan, who'd made it back to the elevator, had a serious problem but it was locked "Oh man…"

"What's the problem?" Megaman asked.

"This elevator... oh man we gotta get out of here." With a sense of urgency Lan ran back down the halls until he reached the path where the door leading to the room where he'd found Megaman resided… Unfortunately it was locked too, the small screen above the key pad only displaying a streaming '201102'. "No way!"

Lan was about to panic, there was no way out! They were trapped! And he was sure the security path wouldn't hold, or worse would be realized by someone. 'What am I gonna--?' Lan's thoughts were interrupted by a strange, and loud static like sound began emitting from his PET with out cause.

He'd already forgotten he still had it.

Megaman peered over his shoulder as Lan lifted the console from where it was mounted on his waist and looked over it. "What's that sound?"

The sound faded and then ceased.

'Huh' Lan could see nothing but red static that had replaced the 201102 that used to stream blankly across the screen, which explained the noise but not where it had come from. But when he looked closely, a faintly visible figure could be seen, but it was so weak and shaky that it could be dismissed as a simple trick on the eyes. Lan, however, didn't believe that. "Zero….. " He said the name almost in disbelief.

"Who's Zero?" Megaman asked.

"He's... I'll tell you later."

Another loud static sound came from the PET with out cause and the static cleared just enough for words to appear.

'Go to the right path and out the emergency exit….Lan….201102'

Then it faded leaving nothing but a blank screen, as odd as that was Lan didn't have time to think about it like would have liked to. This was an opportunity and he had to take it.

He abruptly grabbed Megaman's hand and ran forward abruptly enough to draw a sharp and surprised outcry, he really didn't know what was going on.

Lan ran back to the split in his path, taking the right path this time instead of heading back to the elevator.

_**No one can bring me joy like you girl **_

_**All the little things you do **_

It lay at the end of the white corridor, made of black steel and labeled E.E, Lan knew this had to be it. 'I hope...' Lan pushed through it, Megaman trailing closely behind with the hope that Lan knew what he was doing.

It lead to a room surrounded by walls of rock, this was a cave inside of the island that must have been converted since it was filled with boats, under each of them was a lift leading down to a harbor sealed by enormous gates. This was the emergency exit.

"Whoa..." Lan had been curious as to how you could have an emergency exit on an island, if there was ever a way to do it then this was it.

Megaman could hear the sound of water below them, even that sounded clearer, calmly beautiful. "Where are we going?"

"This way!" Lan went to the first lift he could reach and pressed the down button on a panel mounted on the ground. It's decent started off slow so Lan and Megaman had time to climbing in side of the small boat while it lowered in to the water a story below.

A large steel gate controlled the exit, usually closed this time it was unlocked, and when unlocked it drifted open just enough for the boat to drift through. Assuming that being dragged this far Lan wanted to leave what ever place they were in, Megaman turned on the small motor and was easily able to steer it forward.

'Zero….did all of this……'

_**Its all about you **_

! - ! - !

_Nothing In This World_ **by** _Keke Wyatt ft. Avant_


	6. Chapter 6 part 1: Comforter

Chapter 6 part 1: Comforter

Getting off the island was fairly easy, the whole possess was amazingly simple. Physically maybe, emotionally and mentally this had been a split of heaven and hell all rolled in to one.

It's low, and when the situation seemed to be looking up, it got low again, but this time things seemed to be again looking up, with a downside. It was mentally exhausting, this whole week had been tiering.

Lan was torn between overwhelming joy and depression, should he be happy or sad? Megaman has a body, a real, live body, and he was saved, even after Lan had lost hope of his best friend's survival. But Every time he looked at Megaman he thought of Zero, and now when he thought of Zero's death, then he thought of how Megaman looked when he was infected. How much pain he was in, the feelings of imminent death, how he was slowly slipping away, and Zero's complete self loathing. ... Zero started all of this, and it looked as if he resolved it too.

If Zero was still mad at himself for what 'he' did to Megaman, or at lest what he thought he did, Lan just hoped that he felt like he set things right. Lan sighed and rubbed the back of his head in a nervous habit, he'd thought about this so much that he was starting to get the two of them confused.

! - ! - !

Lan returned to the train station with Megaman following behind him like a lost puppy, and he definitely was lost. Right now he felt so confused that he barely knew which was way was up. He still hadn't gotten a feel for his new body, Lan even had to help him walk after their hastily escape had left him too dizzy and disoriented to move. Lan had brought he got a ticket for him and managed to help him back to his cabin, noting how heavy he was.

After a trip that seemed longer then it actually was, Lan burst through the door of the small room that lay on the center of the train. Megaman slumped heavily with his arm wrapped weightily around Lan's shoulders, trying his best to hold himself up as best he could but ended up staggering so low that he was at about Lan's height.

"God, your a so heavy." Lan held Megaman with both arms wrapped around his waist, it took all of his strength to do so. By the time he took the few, short steps to the couch like seat embedded in the wall coming to the end of trip, he was so tired that he couldn't even stand. "Whoaa...!"

Lan lost his balance, and Megaman, who never had any in the first place, both were sent tumbling forward. Megaman landed on his back, the air forceably being knocked out of his gasping lungs when Lan landed on top of him.

A silence followed.

Every other sound was aloud to filter though into the silence, the muffled buzz of the last call sounding from an intercom in the station, the pounding of heavy rain hammering on the exterior of the train and sheeting in distorted waves down the window. Neither of them had thought to turn on the light upon entry, the only light was the distorted orange glow of the ones illuminating the station terminal this train was docked in.

That heavy orange light retreated from where it flooded the window past the sheets of water rolled away as the train picked up speed with one last blow of it's horn and buzz of the intercom. It was replaced by the dimmer light of the moon shining oddly above, frequently inhibited by passing clouds during which time the room was completely dark.

Lan lifted his dripping wet head from Megaman's soaked chest, inhaling deep humid breaths. "Are you ok?"

Megaman lifted his head up from the seat, leaving a small wet spot behind. "Yeah."

Still to fatigued to think about moving after such a exerting task, Lan dropped his head back down on Megaman's chest, both of them laying silent again in the darkness. Lights flickered through the window from obstruction of the moon's light from things the train passed by.

This should have been a perfect moment, but Lan wasn't feeling much like it.

"Lan? Who was Zero?" Megaman finally asked, seeing that Lan was obviously sad about him, whoever he was.

Lan titled his head upward towards Megaman as he wrapped his arms around the former Navi. He rested his head on Megaman's shoulder and tried to explain it in as much detail as possible without thinking about it more then he had to. Every time he did he started to get depressed and his stomach began to hurt.

"Zero was the virus that infected you…"

"Huh?"

"Well...I shouldn't say _that_." Lan corrected himself. He gently pushed himself upward until he could rest his head on Megaman's shoulder. From their he could easily look Megaman directly in the eyes. "After I uploaded you... he started forming off of all the data that was infected by that virus in you."

Lan closed his eyes and lowered his head, his voice growing subtly softer. "That's where he came from. "He was….really just like you, only... _different_. He didn't know anything about himself except that he was a virus.

I know he felt kinda……He was really guilty and angry at himself was a virus. That's why he did what he did…." Lan's voice trailed off thoughtfully, pausing to piece a thought together for himself.

Whatever Lan was thinking about, it made his embrace tighten fretfully. Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan, a worried expression coming on to his face. "What did he do?"

"He sacrificed himself so that I could get to you. He also did something I'm not really sure of so that we could get out of that place…." Lan sighed, staring past Megaman at the blurry light of the window. "I don't know, I think the reason I got attached to him so much was that he was just like you. He was you, and losing him felt like I was losing you." Lan closed his eyes to the distorted light just as a cloud passed over the moon and hole room became dark.

He listened intently to the rain out side, his mind couldn't help but muse on how seemed that every time it rained, he would think of Megaman. That premise was now replaced by Zero, not that that was a bad thing.

Megaman gently ran his hands through Lan's damp hair that matted it self to the edges of his blue head band, still in disbelief about all of this... Not so much disbelief as it was confusion. His mind, his thoughts, his memories, all of them were still fragmented making him disoriented while everything came together and into place. Everything was so scrambled that parts of other memories would show up during another, or when he thought, occasionally other threads of thought would get jumbled in.

He his body was perfectly correct down to the Millimeter, making him taller then Lan by just under a foot. The only problem was that he couldn't use this body correctly yet, he was still getting used to it, everything was calibrating itself to his every attempt at movement. His eyes, his ears, his noise, his sense of touch, everything was easily overwhelmed when he tried to use them in a normal extent, which was why he was dizzy right now from all of the running and couldn't really move.

Nothing was completely set right, leaving Megaman's new body to figure itself out and leaving him helpless for the moment. But it didn't matter to him. Everything, the nauseous dizziness, the scattered mind that made thinking hard, the inability to move correctly, it was all worth it. Simply because right now he could _feel_ Lan, he was holding his smaller, cold, wet body in his arms and for the first time he was actually able to comfort Lan.

And if that meant a disorderedly obscured existence, for how ever long this would last, Megaman happy to have it.

"Don't worry about him..." Megaman said comfortingly, if Lan was so worried about Zero then Megaman would do his best to comfort him. "He could have found someway to survive." He told him.

More then half of Megaman was still infected by this virus, one of the reasons this calibration was taking so long. That half of him that had been stripped away in which Zero constructed himself from he could feel on some level that he wasn't sure of.

"…" Lan wasn't so sure.

The usually optimistic Lan Haikari couldn't find the strength to be optimistic now, he was menially too tired .

"Mmm….Well, I may not be Zero, or I may be--Haven't figured that out yet--but you won't lose me." Megaman spoke with a hint of happiness in his voice as he gently ran his fingers through the wet strands of Lan's hair.

The cloud shrouding the moon finally passed, allowing it's blue light to shine in distorted shadows through the window. The room illuminated dimly, it was the brightest in the area underneath the window, shrouding Megaman and Lan in the light and the shadows of cascading rain that came with it.

Megaman smiled warmly down at Lan, his green eyes glimmering with contentment. "Sometimes, you just have to look at the situation in front of you instead of the one behind you."

"Yeah." Lan looked up at him with eyes saturated in a forlorn sense of happiness, A gaze which quickly shifted from a few seconds to a few moments.

A small smile appeared almost unwillingly on his face. He was touching Megaman, that fact couldn't be stressed enough for either of them. Zero was right, he would be happy later, at lest somewhat. He was still sad over him, but he was starting to feel better, that sinking pain in his stomach had even left him.

"Thanks Megaman." Lan shift lightly, rolling so that he was laying on his back, his hands holding on to Megaman's wrapped around him. "What a day!" Lan sighed exasperatedly, he closed his eyes, feeling inanely joyful in his current position.

"Hmm, you can say that again." Megaman agreed, quite a finale for 6 days of utter hell.

"What time is it?" Lan asked, laying his head across Megaman's shoulder.

"Midnight" Megaman said.

Midnight? As in 12 am Midnight?...Lan had just realized what he had done, when he found out it was much later then he expected.. "Oh man, I just left town and didn't tell anyone. My mom is going to kill me! And my Dad is supposed to be coming home tonight…." Lan said worriedly.

"Your father?" Megaman looked down questioningly, he didn't know anything about that...On second thought maybe he did and just didn't realize it yet. He was still confused.

After the first outburst, how much trouble he was about to be in seemed to seem less threating, he blamed it on fatigue and fading consciousness. "Yeah, I guess I forgot to say something." Lan was far from sleepy, he was too excited to be, but something about his position was soothing. Lan found himself drifting closer and closer to sleep every moment.

The light faded for the final time as the train descended into an underground passage.

! - ! - !

Lan senses slowly began to awaken from unconsciousness, slowly pulling him out of his sleep, he felt like he was drifting to the surface of deep waters.

First thing he noticed was the sound of rain was gone 'It's...it's not raining...?' , they must have been back in Dentek because it was still raining in Eltgo. He felt the train still moving though, but it would only be 5 more minutes at the most until they arrived at the station.

He was surrounded by warmth, and found himself inexplicably comfortable. Before a word was uttered in his mind, Lan found himself wishing he never had to give this feeling up.

Lan opened his eyes, finding his back to Megaman's chest and Megaman's arms wrapped around him just as it was when he fell asleep. "Megaman." Lan tilted his head back until the view of Megaman came into his sights. Megaman was asleep with his cheeks burred in Lan's hair and a small smile across his face.

"Wow... he looks..." Lan closed his eyes, trying to burn that image into his mind. "I wish you knew how much I missed you."

Lan had been in the habit of talking to himself.

"I don't think I could imagine my life with out you." Lan stared up at the ceiling, shining with the flickering lights of the tunnel outside. "You have no idea how it feel to actually get to touch you...I wonder how it would feel to get to...kiss you...hmm."

Lan rested his hands behind his head with a sheepish smile forming. "I think I'm going to like this new body of yours Megaman." Lan said to himself, his voice was sleepy, accented by a small yawn.

"Yeah, I like it already." Megaman replied drowsily. The sudden response was enough to make making Lan flinch, but an expecting Megaman lifted his head just enough to keep himself from from being hit. "Feeling a little lonely ne?" Megaman asked half jokingly.

"No." Lan sounded a little unsure, but even more so annoyed at being scared. "Ok, I was _a little_ when you left." Lan admitted.

"Don't worry, I'll never leave you again. I promise." Megaman said, kissing him on the forehead before nuzzling back in to his former position.

Lan could practically feel the joy. "You really like doing that huh?" Lan asked, happy to let him do it.

"More than you can imagine."

Lan could even feel the smile on Megaman's face grow larger.

But it quickly faded, followed by a heavy sigh. "Look's like it's time to go." Megaman said disappointedly, he was hesitant to move.

The train was slowing to a stop, they could feel the momentum reducing. "Already?" Lan blinked. "I never thought I'd want to stay on this thing." As much as he didn't want to, Lan forced himself to sit up and pull away from Megaman.

Slowly standing up, he stretched his arms above his head, feeling his clothing had dyed into a mildly damp state. By the time he looked out the window the train had come to a complete stop at the station in Dentek, meaning it was time to go home.

...Not a very promising prospect considering both of his parent where probably worried and waiting for him. Not just one, _both_ of them. How could he explain to them what he was doing? 'Awww...'

Megaman grabbed on to the edge of the seat and pushed himself up on to his feet. He still felt dizzy, but every second he got better, and while he was sleeping the fragmenting process of his mind moved quicker, so by now he had a sense of organization. He was able to walk if he didn't try and run, that range of movement just hadn't been calibrated yet. "Ready Lan?"

There was no stalling, the longer he waited, the worse it would probably be.

Lan nervously nodded and started a slow walk out of the room, his pace wasn't so much for Megaman's sake, but because of his own reluctance.

The two of the left the train, heading down the nearly empty train station. Their foot steeps echoed, only intensifying the empty feeling, as well as thee sense of lateness. Lan came to the glass doors at the head of the station, just before leaving he saw a clock on the wall.

"2:35! Oh man!" Lan tried not to think about it more then he had to.

! - !- !

! - !- !

"What was it like Megaman?" Lan asked, walking at a normal pace beside Megaman. They had the unfortunate luck of catching a very late storm, leaving them to make their way home in the rain. Dentek was really rainy this time of year.

"Well." Megaman paused to think, trying to recall any of what happened to him after he left the PET. "I was asleep most of the time, Everything is kinda fuzzy other than that because of the virus." He failed. There was a blank spot after that point to when he woke up again.

"Huh...oh." With a deep sigh Lan realized that he was standing in front of his home and had been for several minutes. That walk seemed shorter this time on foot then last time on skates, and most of the time he seemed to be moving on auto-pilot.

! - ! - !

Lan slowly opened the door, clutching the knob unnecessary tight, being as careful as he could manage not to make a sound when he did. 'It's all clear...' Lan crept slowly and quietly as possible, waiting for Megaman to pass through the door way before pushing it closed delicately until he heard that small click. He didn't think anything of it being unlocked.

Lan's mind raced with thoughts as he took slow, silent steps through the living room, trying to think of excuses, would he get caught? Where were his parents? Things of that nature.

Treading past the table in the dark living room, he began to relax a little. Taking solace in the fact that his parents were probably upstairs sleep and by the time they found him he could think of a buyable excuse or lie, which ever came to mind first. 'Yeah, This wont be so bad...' Except for the fact that he was horrible at lying. 'I can do th--'

Apparently he became a little to careless, his hand brushed against the edge of the table making a small noise that froze him and Megaman in their tracks. 'It's nothing.' Lan reassured himself. This may have seemed like a simple ignorable thing, but it clearly wasn't.

Which became an obvious fact when the light came on.

"!" Lan flinched and instinctively looked to the other side of the table where the light switch was located.

He found none other then Tadashi Hikari was waiting for him, Megaman knew him as his creator and Lan knew his as his father.

He had short brown hair and wore glass, still wearing a black suit from a meeting earlier that day. Which he rushed to catch a flight home from only to arrive and find that his son had gone missing. His mother was worried, but he _knew_ better, which his why he still was wearing his suit instead of changing and sitting in this very spot, that his son had to be up to something.

"Lan." Tadashi spoke in an voice that seemed to be saying 'almost-but-not-quite'. "I almost didn't hear you come in."

Lan silently cursed to himself, why did he have to be so clumsy. 'So close.' he sighed, taking no comfort in the thought that he _almost_ made it.

Tadashi looked at Lan, then at the person behind him, he was surprised to see the strong resemblance to Megaman. He began contemplating the possibly that that could be the real Netnavi, but dismissing it for the moment.

"Who is he?" Tadashi still managed to ask politely, oh man, Lan knew he was in for it.

Some how, Lan seemed surprised by his question. "That's Megaman, don't you recognize him?"

His father raised in eyebrow, he wouldn't put it past Lan to get something like this to happen. "Uh…Hmm…" Tadashi looked over at Megaman who looked back at him nervously, rubbing his head. "I assume that's what you've been doing?"

Lan nodded. This brought up a host of new questions.

"How?"

Lan cringed when he heard his father ask that, he knew it was coming, but still it wasn't enough time to give a decent answer. Maybe the truth, surly he wouldn't believe it, but it could buy him some time.

Lan reluctantly handed his father his PET, his eye averted. "Remember that virus that infected Megaman, well…." Maybe the truth wasn't such a good idea after all, lying would be better. Definitely better. "The people who accidentally created it decided to give Megaman a body to test an anti-virus. It worked I think." Lan said smiling nervously and rubbing his head.

Megaman looked at Lan, unable to believe that was the excuse he was giving, he could have come up with something better then that. When he realized the expression on his own face he quickly stopped, trying not to give Lan away.

But Tadashi still saw it and knew Lan was lying, honestly he knew Lan was lying before Megaman had given that look. But…Megaman was his best friend, and whatever Lan did, he had to give him credit for ingenuity. If he had the chance to save his best friends life, Tadashi would have taken it too.

With that in mind Tadashi cut a potentially long conversation short, seeing no need to continue. It was 3:30 in the morning, and everyone had to be tired. "Ok Lan, Your completely grounded for…" Tadashi watched as Lan became nervously anticipated. "For 1 day. Your mother was worried about you."

Lan looked, completely confused by the punishment, while Megaman looked pleasantly surprised.

"Huh?…What about school?"

"_Completely_ grounded, you can't leave your room for 24 hours."

Lan didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, he had the day off but….Well, he could see no downside to this, his Dad had let him off the hook, and gave him some time off so to speak... He did didn't he? Lan was thinking he may have missed something to this punishment. "Alright then." Lan said, heading for his room before any stipulation could be added. Megaman silently followed.

"Oh, and I need to speak to Megaman.

! - ! - !


	7. Chapter 6 part 2

Chapter 6 part 2

Lan waited impatiently in his room, his mind restlessly contemplating all the things that could be going on on the level below him. What were they talking about? Why was it taking so long? Just thinking about it gave Lan a sinking feeling in his stomach.

After countless moments of pacing around the room worriedly, he forced himself to lay down on his bed and tried to be calm. He'd already striped himself of his wet clothing, doing so when he came upstairs and was now just covered in a pair of dry, white boxers. 'Yeah, All I have to do is just calm down...' He told himself as he laid horizontally across comfortably soft covers, it was amazing how good a bed felt after a long, long day.

But unfortunately he didn't want to sleep and all he found himself doing was staring up at the ceiling... After countless more minutes he decided it wasn't working at all to calm he down, he was just too nervous, he couldn't take it. Patience was never one of Lan's strong points.

"I wonder what there talking about." Lan wondered to himself. With his already over active sense of anticipation making it impossible be still, he abruptly sat up in an exaggerated motion and lifted himself off the bed on to his feet again.

He knew despite constant self-reassurance what was most likely happening down stairs was exactly what he thought was... 'He's asking Megaman what happened.' Lan sighed.

With heavy steps he walked across the carpeted floor to the window restlessly leaned on the window still. He dropped down onto his knees, a more comfortable position then leaning over, and held his head in his hands. 'Hmm...Megaman...'

It was still raining, pelting the glass barrier in light drops of water that obscured and distorted the darkened, moon lit view. The ever present lights of a major city were still there even at this hour, rows of street lights bathed the soaked streets in orange lights that reflected off the pavement in a wet sheen. Illuminating heavy drops of water that fell in their range that normally would have been inviable and in places not lit by the lights were. Patchy black clouds drifted across the sky, whenever one passed over the moon it cast a darkened shadow over what little amount of the landscape it lit.

This rain just never seemed to stop, he was sure it would probably be like this for a while to come.

**_Sincerely I can say  
That we should have met before today  
But I'm (Mmm) happy to have this chance (This chance)  
_**

'But why would that take so long? Megaman doesn't even remember what happened. He's too confused to tell him anything, he can barely think... Dad _has to_ know that by now….' He had to know that right? So why was this taking so long? It didn't make sense.

Patience was never one of Lan's strong point.

'Come on..' Lan pushed himself off the window still and stood up strait with a small stretch of his back, he beginning to pacing around again. He was too anxious, he at lest needed something to do while he waited.

Lan forced himself to stop pacing and sat down at his desk, after a few seconds of idle shifting of his hands he restlessly reached for his PET that resided on a stand on the desk stop. 'Hmm...Zero...' He looking down at the blank screen for a moment, every time he saw this he used to think of Megaman, he started associating this item with Zero already. 'I wonder if I can do anything with this….'

With slight inquisition Lan turned it on, watching with the subconscious hope that came with familiarity. He expected the result and his face disheartened, just like before he only got '201102' streaming across the screen in red letters. 'Hmm...' After another few seconds of looking in contemplation, Lan gave up on it completely and turned it off, returning the PET to it's stand. He then stood up and walked back over to his bed.

"Uhgggaaaa..." With a growl of fatigue and frustration he fell face first into the soft covers and closed his eyes with a small groan. Maybe if he _forced_ himself to stop moving for awhile _would_ calm him down.

After a few seconds it was obviously clear that he didn't have the will power to stay still.

_**To be with you **_

**_and I'm gonna make the best of it_  
**

'Urggaaaa! I can't take this anymore!' Lan pushed himself out of his bed for the second time and stormed off with quick steps towards the door. He hastily to a hold of the knob and pulled the door it opened, just in time to see Megaman on the other side, stumbling forward from the sudden jerk.

"So, what did he say?" Lan asked impatiently.

Megaman blinked in mild confusion, he didn't expect that. "Uh... Nothing really." He walked past Lan into the room with slow, careful steps as if he was a small child who'd just learned to walk trying to find his balance. "He just wanted to know information on the virus…things like that." Megaman was curtain that the virus was what was making him disoriented now, the hardware inside of him was cutting edge and it shouldn't have taken this long to fragment the data of his thoughts and memories. He was still a little lost, he even had to stop in the middle of his sentences because a fragmented thread of another thought or memory had come up in the middle of his current train of the thought and threw him off.

This was so weird.

"That's all?"

Megaman nodded. "Uh-huh." He could see the relief appear on Lan's face. "Why?"

"Nothing, just a little nervous I guess."

Lan sat back down on the bed, with a releasing sigh, he never knew his father was so... lenient. He thought he was in for it for sure when he saw that Tadashi hadn't even took the time to change clothes. 'I'm glad that's over...I hope.' Lan still had the sneaking suspicion that his father would come back and stiffen his punishment.

"Heh, Heh." Lan smiled with amusement as he looked over at Megaman standing by the door. The former Navi was still soaked from the rain, every freely hanging part of him was dripping into a small pool forming under him. His clothes were so wet that they clung to him almost as if they had shrunk, showing every crevasse and contour of his body. "Megaman, you might as well take off that wet stuff. I'll see if I can find anything that can fit you."

**_This is more than joy for me  
To be like a family  
And when we go our separate ways  
_**

"Hn." Megaman obediently began striping himself of the body suit, it stretched so he could easily slip his arms out of collar and pull it down from there. His body hadn't gotten nearly as wet proving that his clothing offered some protection, at most he was just damp, his hair was completely dry since his helmet had covered his head. Once he was devoid of the suit, and because of the fact that he didn't have anything on underneath it, he was left completely naked, and considerably colder

Lan stared at Megaman in amazement, he'd never seen him like this. "Megaman..." Lan slowly reached his hand out as if expecting to be stopped half way, gently pressing his finger tips against Megaman's stomach. 'It feels so...so real.' "Hmmm…" Lan stood up, bringing himself face to face, or at lest as close as he could get, to Megaman. He was actually trying to determine his size, but he had to admit he did like the view.

"Lan." Megaman tapped Lan's forehead teasingly, pushing him out of thought. "At lest one of us has to focus."

"Oh yeah." Lan rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Lets see if I have any thing that can fit you." With the height difference in mind, Lan began fishing threw his drawers for the largest pair of clothing he had. He knew what he was looking for, it was something he'd gotten for his birthday this year that had been to large, his father told him he'd grow into it. "Oh, here it is!" He found it, a blue T-shirt inscribed with the name of a Band and a logo on the back. Along with it he found a pair of black pants that were also to big for him to fit in. "Here, try them on."

Megaman took the shirt first and pulled it over his head, making sure it was firmly on his torso before Lan handed him the pants, which he immediately put on.

"Uh Lan... I think it's too small."

Lan cuffed his hand over his mouth and stifled a loud laugh when he looked at his now dressed friend. The blue shirt stopped just above his navel and was tight against his body, the pants were a little better, but they were tight against his legs. "I think your right."

Megaman peeled the shirt off of him and handed it back to Lan, then stripped himself of the pants. He felt much more comfortable, though he was cold again with out the tight fabric. "Got anything else?"

"Nah, nothing I have is gonna fit you." Lan shook his head, looking up thoughtfully. "But...My dad's clothes might fit you." He hadn't seen them stand near each other, but if his clothes were that small on Megaman, then his father's might fit pretty well. "I'll be right back."

! - ! - !

Lan returned with a button up white shirt and a pair of tan colored pants bundled in his arms. Tadashi hadn't even made it upstairs yet, Lan didn't think to wonder what he was doing downstairs, so he had an easy time getting the clothes from his and his mother's room. "Alright, try these."

"Thanks." Megaman gratefully took the clothing and began dressing with a sense of haste, he was cold enough to move a little faster. "So, what do you think?"

Lan grinned a little, his clothe shad been too small, and his fathers seem to be too big. The sleeves hung down to his finger tips and the rim of the shirt fell past his waist halfway to his knees. The pants were excessively baggy, almost about to fall down right there. "You look really funny." Lan actually kind of liked it, it made Megaman seem shorter, and it was actually kind of cute. "You should keep it on."

Megaman gave him a look and grabbed a hold of the waist band of his pants to catch them before they fell. "Lan."

Lan's grin didn't lessen a bit as he patted Megan's back consolingly, watching him take off the over sized clothing. "Sorry Megaman, I don't have anything for you to wear, looks like your stuck like that for now." At lest until his bodysuit dried.

**_This feelin' will always stay_  
**

Megaman could see Lan was still repressing the urge to laugh, not nearly as amused he threw the bundled up clothing at the boy's head. "This is not funny!" Megaman half shouted, shaking his head to further emphasize his point.

Lan couldn't contain himself any longer, when the balled up fabric struck him in the chest he burst out in laughter, it was almost enough to make Megaman blush.

"It's not all bad--" Lan told him, "I finally get to check you out now anyway." Lan's grin grew even wider as he tossed the clothes aside and stood before Megaman.

"Lan."

Lan cloud only laughed more.

**_Look how long we've been around each other Look at all the times  
And we've finally found the chance to get together  
_**

Lan really could notice the height difference even more now that he was this close. He was 12 inches or so shorter then Megaman at the lest.

A sense of reluctance came again as he reached out, almost thinking that Megaman would stop him though he knew it wouldn't happen. He pressed his hand against Megaman's stomach for the second time, it was like it had always been real, warm, firm and defined with muscles yet holding a level of softness. Megaman shuttered lightly at the cold touch , but stayed still, he himself was curious about the whole thing.

Becoming bolder in his explorations, Lan lifted the other one to Megaman's torso and roamed over the toned body. Finally he just closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him as tightly as he could. "I missed you so much."

Megaman rested his hands on Lan's shoulder comfortingly, noting how every point of his own skin felt when connected with Lan's. "It's ok, I'm alright."

"I know but..." Lan burred his face into Megaman's chest, he had to force himself to repress on coming tears, he shouldn't be crying now. Megaman was alright, he was better then ever, why should he cry? "I just thought that it you were gonna--"

"Lan, relax." Megaman ruffled his hair lightly and smiled down at the boy. "Nothing's gonna happen to me... If you want to cry..."

It was strange how Megaman could aways recognize when and what Lan was trying to hide, maybe it came from working together so much. "Yeah, I alright." Lan pulled an arm a back and rubbed his eyes furiously with his wrist, removing any traces of tears that had seeped out. "I feel like this is a dream and I'm gonna wake up from it."

"You don't have to try and hold it in." Megaman's voice never faltered one bit from the soft, kind tone filled with underlining happiness that it held before when he said this. "You can cry, it's alright."

Lan sniffled once, his face contorted with evident repression hidden from Megaman's sight. There was complete silence, Lan couldn't find the strength to make a reply, and Megaman only waited, rubbing the boy's back comfortingly. "I" Lan couldn't seem to hold anything at all, it was just a futile attempt at a battle with himself he could never win. With one loud sob tears began streaming from his clinched eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm just... really happy your ok." Lan rubbed his eyes with his wrist again, a blush spreading across his flushed cheeks.

The boy looked up with large brown eyes glazed with unshed tears, filled with overwhelming relief. "What about you, how do you feel?"

Megaman smiled at him again, rubbing his head almost in a child like manner. "Better then I've ever felt before."

"Huh?" Lan blinked in confusion, causing more tears to fall unintentionally. "But you can barely walk, you can hardly think strait, and aren't you still a little dizzy?"

"Yeah." Megaman nodded, his voice hinting an unknown exception. "But I don't care, it's worth it."

"Why?"

"Because for the first time I..." Megaman's voice slowly trailed off, he looked as if he would finish but instead he just shook his head. "Never mind."

Lan's smile returned, as if that was all he needed to hear. "I get it." he said as he reached up and wrapped his arms around Megaman's neck and unexpectedly pulled him down, leaning upward to press their lips together in a soft kiss.

The thought of how Lan was waiting for him to pulling back crossed Megaman's mind, noticing how his grip was lose, as if expecting him to do so. But he didn't, he couldn't even think about doing it. He was _kissing_ Lan, he didn't even want to think.

"What was that for?" Megaman asked almost innocently.

Lan smirked almost victoriously, "I always wondered what that would be like."

"Well, did you like it?"

**_(Oh, finally got a chance to get together, baby)  
Look at all the times we've seen each other Oh, yeah (Oh, yeah)  
_**

"Of course."

Lan pulled Megaman down and kissed him again, he couldn't help but feel this was a means to an end. Like everything he'd gone through for the past week, all the worry, the depression, and even worse, the futility. The loss of hope had been the most horrible of everything, the thought that he had to watch his best friend die before his eyes and was confined to do just that, watch. That's why he couldn't stop himself from crying, why he felt like it was still asleep somewhere and still just dreaming.

Megaman's balance still wasn't 100 percent, in fact it wasn't even close. So Lan's extra weight leaning on him was the last bit needed for him to finally tip over. Both of them were sent falling backwards, Megaman didn't even notice it until he was halfway down. But before he even had time to become surprised he landed luckily on the bed, with Lan falling on his chest.

"I told you _one_ of us had to focus."

Lan lifted his head and laughed, he didn't always focus as well as he should have, he had just let himself get lost in the kiss. "That person is usually you." This had effectively eliminated the height difference.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that."

"Yes I do." Lan reached up and slowly ran his hands through Megaman's spiky blue hair with soft, pet like strokes, his expression he looked as if he was still trying to convince himself that this was really happening. "Your not the only person that read people."

One of Megaman's eyebrow quirked upward. "Huh?" Apparently Lan had been paying more attention then he thought.

"Now lets see how good this body works..." Lan climbed on to his knees above Megaman, pressing his hands on to Megaman's chest. "Do you feel that?"

"Yeah."

Lan gently leaned forward, trailing his hands down Megaman's side with soft traces of touches "Can you feel that?"

How could he not feel it, it was amazing. "I can feel everything." Megaman closed his eyes, hoping that Lan would continue. He let out a small whimper of disappointment when Lan stopped a few seconds later. "Lan?"

**Feels so good to be together Look at all the times we've wasted  
Look how long we've been around each other We've been around  
**

"Huh?"

"I don't want you to do something you don't want to because of me."

"No way, I don't feel that way at all."

"Sure?"

Lan began to blush profusely, he didn't even realize it was happening to him until it was to late. Being in this position with anyone else wouldn't nearly have caused the same reaction , but this wasn't just anyone. This was Megaman, a real live one who was laying directly beneath him, not to mention completely naked. Much to his embarrassment it was starting to give him an erection. He didn't bother to wonder why, he already knew.

After being through as much as he'd had with Megaman, every trail, though every fight . The person he did everything with, the only one who he was comfortable telling more about himself then anyone else knew, who he knew more about then anyone else. The person who'd he grown an attachment to, whom he was reminded of how much he loved every day. He knew it since the first time he'd lost Megaman, and undoubtedly Megaman knew it too, they'd talked about it so much. Especially when he thought Megaman would... "I've never been so sure in my life."

"Alright then."

Megaman happily leaned upward and pressed his lips against Lan's neck, leaving soft kisses along the soft flesh as he wrapped both of his arms around Lan's back. "Can you..." Megaman spoke reluctantly, pausing as if he didn't know what to say, or was too embarrasses to say it. "...Do that again?"

Lan pressed his hands against Megaman's chest, his finger tips grazing across the muscled expanses of his torso with subtitle movements. "This?" Lan asked curiously. He gained a positive moan from Megaman who couldn't seem to bring his mind together enough to say a comprehendable word. Lan's finger tips moved in circle over Megaman's chest, gently trailing over to his nipples. When his fingers brushed over them Megaman quivered, biting down inanely on his bottom lip to keep from being too loud.

It was something about Megaman's face right now, how his body tensed with every movement Lan made, his face contorted with restraint of obvious pleasure. It made the blush across Lan's face grow redder as his erection grew harder, a mixture of arousal and embarrassment at his own need.

He gently messaged the soft nubs with soft brushes of his finger tips, causing Megaman to squirm and shift around. 'He's sensitive...' Lan trailed his fingers down along Megaman's sides, moving over every contour until he reached Megaman's waist and took a firm hold on his hips. He could feel Megaman's member pressing upwards between his thighs, against his own member. Megaman's was larger then his, maybe about twice as big. 'He's so...real.'

**_Look at all the time, look at all the time, boy  
And we've finally found the chance to get together  
_**

Wondering just how sensitive Megaman was, Lan lent forward, giving a soft, chaste kiss before climbing off the bed in one disorganized, and sloppy movement. "Lan? Megaman lifted his head questioningly, watching silently as Lan wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Hn." Lan lowered himself down to his knees as he leaned over the side of the bed, lifting Megaman's legs on to his shoulder. "Just relax." he said, just before pulling Megaman's waist forward and his erection in to his mouth.

Lan wasn't exactly experienced in this sort of thing, he went completely on instinct and what he thought would feel the best. He began sucking, hard, his mouth constricting around Megaman's member in a slick heat.

It felt amazing.

Megaman let his head fall back on to the bed, his hands pressing against the mattress as his body arched upward, clinching the sheets tightly enough to rip them apart. "Ahhh…Lan…" Megaman clamped his mouth shut , suppressing any sound that threatened to force it's way out. Every motion, every contact, everything he felt Lan doing to him, even the feel of Lan's hands clasping on to his thighs for a better grip were amplified due to a sensitivity that seemed to be getting worse by the second. "Lan!"

Everything about this seemed surreal, like it was a dream. His head was spinning in some type of vertigo, his vision blurred with the beginnings of tears, and his stomach felt like it was doing flips. Megaman could barely handle running in his current state, this was a complete sensory overload and his pounding heart agreed. He could barely move his thoughts away from what was happening to him enough to speak a rational word.

Megaman half expected to wake up back in his PET, this was just too good to be true.

**_If you take a listen deeply, deeply  
You can hear the pride in my voice yeah, oh...ho...  
It's not that hard to see that  
I'm happy about the way we came to be, be_  
**

Lan's eyes drifted upwards towards Megaman, he couldn't help but smile inwardly before pulling the erection deeper in to his mouth in an inquisitional manner, wondering if he did that then maybe... A repressed moan forced it's way out from someplace deep within Megaman's suddenly dry throat, the former Navi quickly released the sheets tangled in his fist and pushed Lan back with out warning, just as he came.

Whoever created this body was a perfectionist.

Megaman panted heavily, he was left completely out of breath from trying to repress the rather loud sounds he almost made, watching the last bit of his seed stream down his softening cock with half lidded eyes.

Lan finally released Megaman, the expression on his face looked as if he'd just seen something amazing or at the very lest something highly interesting. "Are you alright." He asked, wondering if Megaman could really handle something like that the way he was now. It was a little late for that line of thought.

Maybe if he was thinking strait he could think of something better to say then just. "I'm ok." Megaman dropped his hands at his side, finally able to take the time to catch his breath. '...' At the moment all he seemed to be able to do was stare up at the ceiling, allowing one hand to rest on his rapidly rising and falling chest.

It was silent for that moment, allowing the sound of rain falling against the house's exterior to filter through. He couldn't describe how different it sounded out here in contrast to the PET, this was just simply... amazing. 'This is so great.'

Megaman's view of the ceiling was suddenly obstructed by one of Lan smiling down on him as the boy climbed on to the bed again and rested on his knees above the former Navi. "I think so too."

"Huh? I said that out loud?"

Lan pressed their lips together in a small, almost innocent kiss, "Yeah." The boy wrapped his hand around Megaman's semi-hard erection, running his thumb over the slicked head. Megaman exhaled sharply, that last touch was enough to draw one last spurt of cum from the now completely softened cock. "Heh." 'He's _really_ sensitive.' The flushed red on Lan's face returned when his own member made itself known again, Lan only rubbed the back of his nervously as he lifted himself off of the bed again.

No long able to stand it, Lan quickly stripped himself of the restricting fabric of his boxers.

"Have you ever done this before?" Megaman asked.

Lan turned around in an almost embarrassed manner, soothingly rubbing his member with the hand covered in Megaman's cum. "No." Reluctantly he faced Megaman again, his eyes shifted away as he stood fully naked before him.

**_If I ever get the chance again I know that  
We make sweet music together_  
**

He forced to himself to look forward, resting both of his hands on Megaman's legs with an increasing grip. "Are _you_ sure about this?" Lan asked

Megaman nodded, he couldn't say no if he tried. "Go for it."

Lan slow began pushing Megaman's legs apart before lifting them on to his shoulders again, pressing his length against Megaman's entrance. From his own lack of experience Lan moved slowly, softly pushing the slicked head of his cock in to Megaman's body.

Megaman closed his eyes, letting another low, sharp moan force it's way out of his mouth.

Lan released a breath he didn't know he was holding until his lungs started to scream at him with the need for air, he watched closely, looking for any hint of pain on Megaman's face. His eyes asked an unsaid question, taking notice to it Megaman pushed himself up on to his elbows and bucked his hips on to Lan's member.

Lan winced, both eyes shutting tightly at the sudden movement, "Megaman..." He increased his pace, never being the patient type Lan didn't have the will power to keep going slow like this.

This was amazing, Lan couldn't believe he was doing this. Just a touch from Megaman brought so many things in his mind.

**_Look how long we've been (Oh...) Look how long we've had around each other  
(Look around, look around, look around, look around)  
And we've finally (Finally, finally) found the chance to get together Oh..._  
**

Lan could hear another soft moan from Megaman, watching a wanton expression grow across his face. Before he realized it he was thrusting frantically into the taller body, moving with no sense of rhythm or definite pace, just moving as fast and hard as his strength would allow him to. Lan clinched Megaman's thighs and leaned forward so that he was bearing over Megaman's chest.

A strange focus came to his mind, listening acutely to the soft cries and pants coming from the form below him. The gaining warmth of the body tightening around him in convolutions mid-thrust, and finally the feeling of a intense wave of pressure washing over him with a stream of cum pouring from his cock. "Ahhaaa! Mega--"

Soft lips pressed against his own as Megaman lifted himself completely up and kissed him, stifling Lan's moan. It was louder then he realized, but Lan clearly wasn't a person good at restraint.

**_Look at all the times  
we've seen each other  
Feels so good to be together _  
**

Lan's legs gave out beneath him and he fell on to Megaman's chest, sending both of them dropping back on to the bed. "Ow." Lan smiled nervously, "Sorry about that.

"Hn..." Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan, burring his face into the boy's hair with a scare response. This touch, this embrace, brought up more feelings and thoughts, memories, things he thought he would quickly forget. "...Lan?"

Megaman looked down, apparently more time had pass then he realized, a silent Lan had quickly fallen asleep. Lan didn't seem tired earlier, in fact with all the sleep he'd gotten today... "Huh?" Megaman felt something strange, it wasn't really strange, just something out of place..

"Lan?" Megaman looked down at the boy again curiously since there seemed to be a source of wetness... He was _crying_? In his sleep no less. 'Lan?' Megaman pulled him closer, kissing his forehead softly. "I wonder that your thinking about..."

**_Look how long we've been Look how long it's been around each other  
And we've finally found the chance to get together We finally got a chance to be together_  
**

Lan shifted a little and soft smile grazed his lips, tears still fell from his closed eyes with no determent.

! - ! - !

**_Look at all the times we've seen each other (All of this time, all of this time)  
Feels so good to be together Feels so good  
_**

"Finally awake huh?"

Lan opened his eyes, finding himself still comfortably on Megaman's chest with his arms wrapped around his back. His vision was met by the harsh light of the sun blaring through the window and bathing his whole room in gold. "How long have you been up?" Lan asked, not bothering to move. Judging from how high the sun was he'd slept pretty late into the day.

"I don't know." Megaman said discardingly. "Not that long though."

**_Time is precious, we must take advantage  
Especially when we're often apart oh  
Baby, when you see See me see me looking proud  
_**

"You know….I can't wait to show you off." Lan smirked.

**_I'm only thinking of me and you Me and you (Me and you) Me and you, baby  
I'm only thinking of Me and you, me and you  
Thinking of me and you, oh...  
_**

Megaman laughed softly, "Me nether."

"Hey Megaman, you think there's a way to reconnect you to the net?" Lan asked out of the blue, his eyes had found their way over to his desk where the PET rested on it's stand as it had the night before.

Megaman's eyes rolled toward the ceiling thoughtfully. "Hmm… I don't know….Maybe not if I'm still infected with that virus."

"Maybe."

**_Look at the times we've been together Look at how we've been around  
Now I have Finally, finally got the chance to be  
Look at the times we've been apart  
Though I have never had the chance to meet you  
_**

_!- ! - !_

_. "Oh…This strange little thought crossed my mind about how this all started, it seemed like the opening scene for a romance move…or a horror film."_

" _I could see romance, but how did you come up with Horror?" _

"_Well, I'm a virus right? What If something happened to me, and I started acting like a virus. I could just destroy everything…? What type of virus am I?" _

_! - !- !_

"Lan? Are you alright?" Megaman tapped him on the head to see if he was still awake.

Lan seemed dazed, he drifted out of the conversation completely. "Huh? Oh, Yeah… I was just thinking about something."

Lan pushed himself off of Megaman and got up quickly, hoping that he wouldn't be asked what he'd been thinking about.

_**Look how long we've been around each other  
And we've finally found the chance to get together**_

It was strange that he would just start thinking of Zero when he was with Megaman. At lest on first thought it was, it really wasn't at all, considering how similar they were.

'Alright Lan.' Megaman could tell he didn't want to tell him about it, he probably didn't want to talk about what ever dream he had last night either, so he didn't ask.

"I'm going to take a shower." Lan announced. "Wanna join me?"

! - ! - !

**All the times by LSG**

I can honestly say that this wasn't my best work, Sorry! I was rushing. I had to put this up now.


	8. Chapter 7: 201102 Virus

Chapter 7: 201102 Virus

Lan had no problem sitting in his room all day, of course under normal circumstances it wouldn't have been so easy. But he was getting out of school for a day, and after all that happened, he probably needed it. And he was with Megaman after going a whole week not knowing whether he would live or die, that was always a plus.

Lan really didn't feel like doing anything anyway. It was wet outside, the storm yesterday had left every part of the city completely soaked. Today it was hot out, extremely hot, the kind of day that made you want to sit someplace cool and do nothing. The air in it self was also wet and muggy, but the wind was strong as if another rain would come soon. Gray clouds were scattered across the blue sky, seemingly the same ones from the day before.

There was no point in going out, it _would_ rain again soon anyway, in fact it was starting right now as he thought. 'Wow, that was fast...' Lan sat at his desk with the goggles with tended green lenses, golden rims and a black strap that prevented blurring of vision over his eyes, something he'd taken from his father's study and never put back. Currently he was trying to fix his PET with no progress at all, while Megaman was sleeping peacefully behind him.

Lan stared at the console blankly, contrary to his expression he was thinking as hard as he could about any option he could take. This wasn't easy since he didn't have knowledge in this type of thing, and each time he looked at it he remembered what happened when he was escaping from the island with Megaman. How the PET showed this faded image that told him where to go, 'That had to be Zero, he's gotta be still in here... somewhere.'

It was the only reason he bothered to deal with the PET anymore was because of that image. It had to be something, if the PET stopped working before and Zero came back to help him, then maybe it could happen again.

'Why am I still bothering with this, Megaman's back, isn't that what all of this was for?…' Lan leaned over the edge of his chair and glanced over his shoulder at Megaman, he couldn't help but smile lightly at the thought. 'Hn, that's why.' Some time after Zero died and before he found Megaman, his goals changed.

_! - !- !_

"_My data will become corrupt, and when that happens, I'm as good as deleted." _

"_What? But… you can't…."_

"_I have to!"_

"_There has to be another way….." _

"_There isn't, this is the only way in to the room, this is your only chance."_

_! - ! - !_

'He said _good as deleted_….that doesn't mean he is, maybe there's a chance that he's still alive somewhere. Maybe I can bring him back.' He had a better chance of getting it done with his Father's help, but he wouldn't press the issue with him now, he would have plenty of time later. His father was going to be home for 3 weeks, giving Lan more time to gather up more information.

'It's like Megaman all over again.' Lan sighed, when he stopped thinking he noticed he was still looking at the former Navi. This time it seemed even more hopeless then before, but there was still a chance and Lan had to take it. He knew all of what happened was in a way Zero's fault, but more good came from it then bad, and he did sacrifice himself for Megaman. Lan at lest had to try.

"This is pointless, I can't do anything." Lan said in aggravation, nearly tossing the console aside. With his hands planting on the desk he slowly pushed himself up, averting his eyes toward the window.

It was still sunny outside even though it was raining lightly, not a setting that usually came about. The boy only shrugged mentally at the rarity and looked away from the window at Megaman. The bed was looking very tempting right, even though it was about 8 in the morning.

A small yawn decided his fate, Lan laid down, curling up against Megaman, who moaned softly in his sleep and wrapped his arm around him.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

He still couldn't believe that he ended up _here_, all of _this_ led to Lan of all people. Who better to go get answers then Enzan?

There where a million reasons why he was doing this, one because he was the head of the Project Zero Network a subsidiary to his father's company IPC. His father had giving this Project to him as a test of his managing skills, and so far it had been a good so far, all was going as plan.

Imagine his surprise when he left for 2 days and when he returned, his systems were infected with an unknown virus. And the first created subject was missing, more importantly one that was created out of _his_ account. The raised a lot of questions in it self, which he wanted to ask personally and on his own.

Enzan waited patiently at the door, he was so busy thinking that he'd forgotten that he even rung the doorbell, he was surprised to find Dr. Haikari on the other end.

"Oh, Hello Enzan." Tadashi said warmly, "I guess you're here to see Lan."

Enzan nodded almost impatiently, he was really just anxious. "Yes."

"Come on in, Lan's upstairs."

He was actually here? Wasn't he suppose to be in school?

! - ! - !

It was around noon, and by now Lan was fully awake, laying casually across the bed with is legs hanging over the side. Megaman was sitting at Lan's desk looking over the PET with a sense of curiosity and fascination.

The door suddenly flew open so hard that it slammed against the wall, and an annoyed Enzan walked in abruptly.

Lan sat up abruptly at the sound. "Huh?"

"Netto!" In a second Enzan was standing over Lan before he could move, or even before he realized what was happening.

"Enzan!"

Enzan looked over his shoulder at Megaman for a moment, it was all starting to make sense now. "How did you mange to do this?

"D-Do what?"

"_This_?" Enzan asked, clearly meaning Megaman.

"Is that why your so mad? You wanted to ask me that?" Lan asked, standing up.

"You some how hacked in to Zero Divide, I wanna know how." Enzan asked impatiently, he was strait to the point as always.

Lan rubbed the back of his head nervously, he wasn't expecting this. "How did you find that out?"

"What?" He couldn't believe he was being asked this question. "You left a trail of clues a mile long!" Enzan managed to keep his voice just below yelling.

"Well then, why are _you_ here?" Lan retorted angrily, he couldn't help but get mad with Enzan yelling at him.

"I'm in charge of the network, and the account you got in to was _mine_." Enzan told him,

"Oh man, you can't be serous!" Lan was clearly surprised, he'd never imagined that out of everyone it could have been, it was his that he got into.

"Whatever, just tell me how you did it."

"….Wait! If your in charge of that place, then this whole thing is your fault!" Lan yelled, tapping a finger against his Enzan's head.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He shouted back.

Finally unable to just watch any long, Megaman came in-between them and pried them apart, "Calm down, and stop yelling."

Lan and Enzan looked Megaman and then at each other, then both of them folded their arms and looked away. "A virus infected Megaman, one nobody could stop, and guess where it came from." Lan snorted sarcastically, he sat down on the bed, waiting for Enzan to figure it out.

'Virus? What is he... Hmmm' Maybe he did have more of an idea about what Lan was saying then he thought. "What virus?" Enzan asked, he wasn't sure if it was the same one he was thinking of.

"This one." Lan stood up, brushing past the other boy to reach the PET on his desk and then handed it to Enzan.

Since Megaman had been examining it the PET was still on, the screen still displayed a streaming '201102' in red numbers.

Apparently it was the same virus. Unfortunately. "…….How…?"

"That virus almost deleted Megaman, I say it was a fair trade." Lan sounded satisfied with himself, peering over Enzan's shoulder.

'How could it have gotten out? We isolated and destroyed the system it was created on…' Enzan was sure that he had a much larger problem then Lan now. "How did you get in and get past security? Someone would have had to notice you."

"A friend." Lan replied carelessly.

This didn't speak well for his security system."Whatever you did, you infected one of our main systems with the virus, Now we can't stop it."

"Huh? What do you mean you can't stop it?"

"Just what I said, somehow that virus has been altered. I'm sure your not smart enough to program it to do what it's doing now." He said. "It sealed off all of the server rooms and locked down all the independent systems on each of them, it can reach the Net at any time now." Enzan forcefully handed him back the PET.

"You said _could_, it hasn't gone on to the net yet?" Megaman asked, he didn't make sense, a virus that powerful could get to almost any system, it could devastate the net in about 3 days at the lest. And it was just a mindless worm, it can't be selective on what to infect... Enzan did say it had been altered. And he did just realize Enzan had took a shot at him. "And I'm not stupid!"

"No it hasn't, it hasn't moved since it infect my systems." Enzan told him.

Lan started to wonder, was this Zero? That replicating program that the '201102' virus was, wasn't smart enough to do this. "What does it look like?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dose it look like a Net Navi?"

"Hmm…" Maybe he was right in taking the time to come here , Lan may have known more about this then he gave him credit for. "I have heard that it has taken some type of form." He said thoughtfully, then he stopped thinking. "Why am I telling you this, unless you have a way to stop it then-"

Lan cut him off quickly "I might just have one!" Lan sounded more excited then the situation called for.

Was he serious? "What?"

"I'm not sure, but I need to get back to that Island." This was his chance, if he went back, then he could see once and for all if Zero was alive or not.

"No way! You just don't expect me to let you go after you caused this much damage already!" Enzan shouted angrily.

"It's not my fault that _you_ let the virus you made in the first place get out, how much damage do you think you caused already?" Lan said just as angrily.

He's was right, and if this new version got out... Enzan scowled to himself and folded his arms. "Fine, if you think you can stop it, Let's go." Enzan said, decidedly he began walking away. "But you better not be wasting my time." He called back just as he passed the door.

'I might just be able to save Zero after all…' Lan thought happily.

"You think it's him?" Megaman asked.

"I'm sure of it." Lan said with a small smile... which quickly faded at another thought. "Oh man! I'm still grounded!"

! - ! - !

"Lan?" Tadashi was in the living room reading a newspaper, he lowered it just enough to see Lan and Megaman standing over him. He folded it neatly and set it aside on the table in front of him.

"You remember that virus Megaman had?" Lan had told him the specifics of it this morning, most of the details of Zero also.

"Yes?" He nodded.

"And you heard about the Zero Divide network opening right?"

Tadashi nodded again.

"Well that virus..." Lan paused nervously. "It took over the network, it's going to spread over the whole net if something isn't done about it-"

"And you want to do something about it." His father sighed, getting up from the chair.

"Of course…. and we're going to need your help." Lan said the last part reluctantly, it's probably what he'd been so nervous about.

"Hmm….Must be serous, is it?"

"Yeah, total net devastation in 3 days serous!"Lan told him, almost yelling.

"Ok Lan, tell me _all_ of what happened yesterday." Tadashi said in a serous tone. "Oh and Lan."

"Yes Dad?"

"You and Megaman better learn to lock the door, Your lucky I came before your mother did."

Lan looked away, a blush spreading across his and Megaman's face.

! - ! - !

"What took you so long?" Enzan was waiting impatiently in door way.

"I had to get someone to help." Lan told him as he walked outside, Megaman following loosely behind and Tadashi followed after him.

Enzan had no complaint, he thought Lan's father had a better chance of helping the Lan did.

A strong gust of wind pushed through the rain lightly and a red and black helicopter dropped down from the sky landing on the lawn.


	9. Chapter 8: The Zero Virus

Chapter 8: The Zero Virus

It was a relatively short ride, in an hour they were coming down on a Helipad on top of the island off of Eltgo city. It some time around 3'o clock, the sun was shining brightly through the patches of gray clouds though it was still raining, much harder here then in Dentek.

Lan climbed out of the Helicopter directly behind Enzan, wiping the water from his face that was thrown at him from the rotating blades.

"This way." Enzan called out over blaring noise of the rain and the helicopter, leading them towards a door at the east edge of the heliport. He opened the steel barrier, holding it for Lan, Tadashi and Megaman in before closing it behind them.

Like the lower levels Lan had seen the last time he was here, the hallways on the upper floors were an undisclosed white with long florescent lights and markings on the wall for room identification. This one was marked

' Helipad corridor B'

At the end of this hall was an elevator with a long list of buttons that would confuse anyone, Enzan pressed one labeled '14' and lent against the wall as it descended..

"So, do you have any details about this virus?" Tadashi asked "Any differences from the last one?"

"It's technically not a virus, it's an unfinished converter program." Enzan explained. "It converts anything it comes in contact with in to worthless data that a normal system can't read. That's why any means to stop it fail, because it converts absolutely _everything_."

"And you've tried cutting off all connections to the net?" Tadashi asked.

"That's what makes it so dangerous, this version of the virus travels wirelessly, and everything is wireless." He was right, very few devices used actual wires to transmit data anymore. "Even if we disable the wireless ports It can leave a system anytime it wants and re-enter in another system. That's how it got in to the independent servers."

"Hmm….that's a serous problem, I'll do what I can." Tadashi told him, adjusting his glass as he always did when he was thinking. With his inquiring mind he was already staring to get ideas on how to contain the virus.

"What about you Lan? What's your plan?" Enzan asked.

Lan wasn't hesitant with his answer, "I need to see it first, then I'll know if I can do something about it."

Enzan wasn't sure what he meant by, but he knew Lan, and may have been fully capable of stopping this on his own. Or he could get in the way. Enzan knew the second option was more likely, but he decide to believe the first. Stranger things have happened. "Lan." Enzan closed his eyes, the start of a headache forming.

"What?"

"You should probably get off that wall."

"?" With out another thought Lan quickly stepped away from the wall as it rolled open, apparently there was an unseen door in the back of the elevator, revealing a control room.

Large panels and video screens lined every inch of the walls like windows, scattered with only 3 people over the entire area. The facility was understaffed and stretched thinly, everyone else were in different parts of the faculty. "Ok, let me see him." Lan slowly entered the room, taking curious steps forward.

"This one." Enzan led him to a separate panel in the far end of the room mounted in a terminal.

"Is that him?" Megaman asked, staring at the screen, this sight was so obscure that he had to ask. "Is that really Zero?"

There were still some traces of Zero in the creature, it was red, and it still carried the light sword that Zero had. But it was a huge monstrosity, seemingly a mass of red flesh. A torso, after the waist the rest of it's body splurged outward in the shape of pooling water. And he was about a hundred times taller, and had no legs, not to mention this grotesquely mutated face.

"No... it kinda looks like it used to be..." Lan shook his head with a tone of sadness in his voice, he couldn't believe how large a part of him believed that this was actually Zero. But the facts didn't lie, this did kinda look like him, he was red, and that sword... Plus the fact that the system he was looking at was infected, it had to be him. But what happened to him? "Something must have changed him…"

'What are they talking about?' Enzan looked at the virus, then back at Lan. "Lan? You've seen it before?"

Lan nodded, but then shook his head. "It's not the same person... I remember the last time I saw him, he said 'I'm as good as deleted', whatever happened to him after that must of did this to him." This was probably what happened when a virus's data became corrupted.

Enzan wasn't really sure what he and Megaman where talking about, but Lan seemed to know more about this then anyone else. "He's been absorbing data, everything he could touch at first, but now selective bits and pieces of files. I think that's why he hasn't went in on to the net." Enzan told him.

Megaman noticed that Enzan was referring to Zero as 'he' instead of 'the virus' now.

Enzan left from the panel and headed over to Tadashi who was working diligently at a panel in the center of room. He was focusing on containment, he seemed to have experience in this type of thing.

"I don't have anything yet…" Tadashi told him, glancing at the boy who know stood before him. "But I'm looking over the areas of the system the virus attacked. The information is sketchy, I need you to tell me what this room is." He pointed to a room on the map programed in to the system. From the blue print it was the largest room in the building, a circular one that stood in the center as if the core of something.

"That room was a mainframe used for data conversion, Net Navis in the Bio-android project need to be converted in to a special data type. It's resource consuming so something with a lot of processing power is needed." Enzan explained.

The parts and plans looked familiar to Tadashi's last project, a holographic projector that converted Navis in to a different file type to do so. If he changed a few things he could probably use the security camera to do the same basic thing, that's how similar it was. But that wasn't a priority right now, that only meant it would be easier for him to find his way around the system.

Lan stared in contention at the screen, watching Zero's actions. The way he was howling made it seemed as if he was in pain, but he could hardly tell from looking at the distorted face. Something, an idea was forming… he could feel it, and Megaman could see it on his face.

The same thought hit them at the same time.

"Hey Lan, you said Zero was like a Navi right?" Megaman asked.

"Yeah, you can still see him... almost." Lan agreed, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"Well, do you think that--"

"Some of the old Zero's data is in that thing?"

Megaman nodded, they really did have the same idea. "Uh-huh."

"Maybe…" Lan looked up from the panel, turning toward Enzan. "Hey Where is this?"

"Where is what Netto?" Enzan asked.

Lan pointed to the screen, and Zero. "Where his he now?"

"That system is the first holding room under the mainframe."

"Is that the room Megaman was in?"

"…Yes." Enzan wasn't really sure where he was going with this.

"Was there an emergency exit near it?"

"Yes." Enzan just nodded blankly. "He's been in the same spot from the start, he never moved." The Virus had only grew and expanded, but was rooted in the same spot.

Lan remembered that Zero had told him the system down there was an independent server, he still had to try... "Is there anyway to reach it from here?"

"No, it's been cut off and isolated to slow the infection."

Just as he thought. "I need to get down there then!" Lan said urgently.

"Huh? Why?"

"Trust me, I just need to get there!" Lan nearly shouted it out, it was clear that Lan was determined to get there, so it had to be something important.

"Netto, it's dangerous down there, half of it is on fire."

"Fire?"

"The last time I had any communication down there was before an explosion an hour ago. The chemicals down there are highly flammable, it they went up, all of them, it could take out half of this island." Enzan explained. "I don't want you down there."

"But that system is independent, there is no other way to get to it!"

How Lan knew that was unknown to Enzan, but he was right. "If you get there, can you stop the virus?"

Lan nodded.

"If you really want to go down there, I'll take you, but if it's too dangerous we're leaving. _Leaving_. " Enzan sighed deeply, he couldn't believed he just caved in on anything Lan asked him to do, especially if it involved risking his own life and he didn't even know what Lan was planning. This was crazy, this went against everything in Enzan's logic.

Tadashi himself was debating whether or not he should let his son go down to a place potentially life threatening... "Before you go, I do have a plan. It won't stop the virus, but It will contain it or at lest slow it down. I can put in place a firewall type program and a jamming signal around the island to block any and all wireless transition. It will only work if all the hard connections are severed and I need access to that room I showed you earlier." Tadashi said.

"It's on the way, I'll take you."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

They went down a hall opposing to the one they had entered from and took a separate elevator.

"All right Lan, if your going down there. I want you to be _careful._" He emphasized that highly. " Don't take any unnecessary risks if it's too dangerous. Enzan, Megaman make sure you take care of him." Tadashi said firmly, both of the boy's nodded.

The front door of the elevator opened about halfway to Lan's destination, there Tadashi got off.

The doors closed and the elevator began descending again. "So what exactly are you planning?" Enzan asked, now was the perfect time fore him to be let in on this plan of his.

"I'll going to get the old Zero back." Lan said confidently.

Enzan wasn't really sure what Lan meant by that. "And just how are you planning to do that?" Enzan closed his eyes and sat leaned back against the wall.

"I'm going to talk to him." Lan could guess what was going to happen next.

"What! Your going down there to put your life in danger, and that's the best plan you have!" Enzan shouted, he couldn't believe this was what they were going on.

"Do you have something better in mind?" Lan asked, and he knew Enzan didn't.

"This is pointless, you can't talk a virus down. Damnit Lan you idiot!" Enzan yelled angrily. This wasn't worth him risking his life for.

Lan was quiet for a moment, Enzan always called Lan by his real name, he never used Lan, always Netto. "He's not a virus remember!" Lan yelled back after a long pause.

"That's even worse, he's not anything! He's not going to listen, what are you going to do, go down there and start screaming?"

Lan shook his head, holding up his PET that was on his waist, no one realized that he had it. He barley realized that he'd taken it on the way out he was use to doing it all the time, it was reflex. "If he's nothing, why are you calling him 'he' ?" Lan asked in a victorious tone.

Enzan growled in frustration, Lan was right, somewhere in his mind he believed Lan could do this. But the head strong pride part of his mind was getting in the way of that, and logic, Logic was screaming that this was stupid. Sure Lan had managed to pull off some narrow situations, but this? Enzan looked up at Megaman standing idly by, he hadn't said anything this whole time.

Before Enzan could reply, the elevator began to shake. "Huh?" The rumbling became intense quickly, then the elevator began to fall. Before it could tumble anywhere something stopped it.

Megaman grabbed on to the wall to keep from falling just in case more shaking came. "What was that?"

"We have to get out of here, now." Enzan's voice was calm, meaning the danger wasn't immediate, but decisive so it had to be serious. Luckily the doors rolled open and greeted them with a cloud of black smoke that poured into the elevator and covered the ceiling.

Most of the level was covered in flames, the floors, the walls, the ceiling, but from the severity it didn't appear to have reached the chemicals in the Bio-android storage lab. Not on this floor at lest, there were damages that suggested containment tanks in the laboratories on other floors had gone up, it's most likely what caused the flames on this level.

Strangely enough, parts of the ceiling where torn open all the way to the top of the island, letting a hard rain fall through. But the rain never seemed to reached the fire, it just served as a vented outlet for most of the smoke. Enzan coved his noise and mouth with his fore arm and walked in to the hallway. It was the same one as before, with a fork in the path ahead, but the smoke was blinding and made it hard to see.

Enzan squinted, the smoke burned his eyes and made them blurry and water. "Come on, we should go back. We'll never make it anywhere in this smoke!" Enzan said, turning back towards the elevator with Lan and Megaman following behind... Only to see it suddenly plummet with a tail of burning cables wiping around wildly after it.

Megaman, who's vision wasn't nearly as obstructed by the smoke, grabbed Enzan by the waist and abruptly pulled him back, just in time to avoid one of the inflamed cables wiping out of the open doors. "Thank you." Enzan wiped his teary eyes and thanked Megaman, he was stronger then he looked.

"I guess we have to keep going now." Lan sighed, or at lest as best he could, the smoke was making his throat burn.

'!' "Move!" Megaman shouted, grabbing both Lan and Enzan by the arms and pulled them forward. Suddenly there was a large crash and an explosion erupted from a lower level of the elevator shaft, strong enough to shake the ground violently. A few seconds later, flames spewed from the elevator shaft, being forced up from the bottom by it's own rising heat and pressure.

"!" Enzan grabbed Lan's head and abruptly pushed him down toward the ground, Lan let out a loud, startled cry when he fell to his knees, just as the flames passed over both of their heads.

"Lan!" Enzan felt the ground beneath him loosen in stability, with out warning he pushed Lan forward by the head just as the floor suddenly dropped. "Ghaaaaaaa!" He was falling, but couldn't see anything because of the thick smoke. "?" Before he could fall three feet he was caught by something, he looked up and saw that Lan and Megaman both had a tight grip on each of his arms. Some manner of fear or curiosity prompting him to look down, he saw that there was a was a 5 foot drop below him in to raging flames, the source of the smoke and the cause of the floor falling through. He could feel the heat from here, it was... intense. 'The floor burned through, but why is it so hot... The... The gas line is down there!'

"Enzan! Hold on..." Megaman and Lan extracted him up over the edge by his arms with one swift pull, "Are you alright?" Lan asked frantically.

"Yeah thank you." Enzan told him hastily, he was forced to pause to catch his breath, coughing and gasping from inhaled smoke. "We have to hurry, there's a gas line down there that could go at any second!"

Enzan stumbled on to his feet, then he turned around, taking a quick step back for momentum and jumping blindly diving over the hole. His body plowed through the smoke, landing safely on the other side. "It's not that far, come on!" Enzan called back.

"Uh..." Lan looked up at Megaman nervously, he like the idea of jumping blindly over a hole he didn't know how big really was with a pit of raging flames he had to face if he didn't make it all the way.

"Go ahead." Megaman told Lan comfortingly.

Lan swallowed hard with a nod, if Megaman thought he could do it then it couldn't have been that bad. 'Here goose nothing!' With out another thought he jumped across, turns out that he'd made longer jumps, one off a dock in particular. "Wow it really isn't that long, come on Megaman."

"Ok." Megaman came through next, diving over the hole and landing on the edge, one that immediately caved in under his weight and broke when he landed. '!' Megaman quickly jumped again and landed a safe distance away from the hole, avoiding the fall.

There wasn't as much smoke on this side, mainly because there were more of those holes in the ceiling. Rain was pouring in through them, but it not enough made it down this far to have any impact the fires.

Lan looked down the left path and saw those two familiar doors on opposing sides of the hall, smoke pouring out of both from underneath.

"Hurry up Baka! We don't have much time." Enzan shouted, snapping Lan out of whatever he was thinking about.

"Yeah!" He pulled the PET off of his waist and connected it to the locked door that led to where he'd found Megaman, Zero had unlocked it for him before.

Instead of a streaming '201102' that usually resided on his screen when he turned it on, he got a loud static. 'Huh..?'

"Zero! Zero! Are you in there!" Lan called out, but his words got nothing in return but the same static. "Zero? Come on! I know your in there somewhere... somewhere." Lan was completely distracted when he felt Megaman tap on his shoulder. "What?"

"Look." Megaman pointed upward, one of the holes in the ceiling above them lead to a hall near the room Tadashi was working in, somehow he'd heard their voices and followed them to the gap.

"Hey, are you guys alright down there?" He was barely visible through the smoke.

"Well, Not exactly." Lan called back.

"I saw the elevator, it looks like the only other way out is threw the emergency exit." Tadashi said, he'd seen it on the map back in the control room.

"What about the stairs?" Enzan asked.

"They collapsed when the elevator went down, you should probably go now, the fires are starting to reach the gas lines up-here." The gas lines were marked differently then other pipes, he could easily tell them apart.

"What about you? I don't think there are any other ways off of that floor." Enzan said.

"There is a service elevator near the mainframe's room, the virus hasn't completely infected it's system yet. If I can set up that firewall before it does then I'll be able to get it open." Tadashi called back.

After a little thinking Enzan remembered the service elevator for loading and unloading supplies used during the mainframe's construction. He also remembered something else about it. "Wait, the locks are too strong, you'll never get it open." Enzan protested.

Tadashi was more crafty then that. "I can get the locks off."

"But that door would be to heavy, you'll need some help..." Enzan shook his head, there was no way Lan's father could get that door open, by himself at lest.

"Then we'll leave and go around." Megaman suggested.

"No, it'd be to late by then, we need to get up there, _now_."

This posed a serious problem... One that Lan seemed able to form a solution too. He looked towards Megaman with an idea forming, "Megaman you could do it, all you'd have to do is climb this hole to get to him. It's much faster then going all the way around."

"But I can't do that." His body was just getting used to running, something that he got down pact this morning. Running was one thing, Climbing up a four story gap? No way.

"Yes you can." Lan told him. "Your really strong, you just get dizzy when you try to do stuff."

"Dizzy?" Enzan didn't understand, that wasn't suppose to happen. "When do you get dizzy?"

"It happens when I run or try to jump." Megaman explained "Any sudden or really sharp movement makes me so dizzy that I can't move at all."

"That shouldn't be happening..." Enzan didn't have much time to think about it, they had to go now. "Your body is really strong, you should be able to do this with out a problem."

Megaman didn't see himself doing this easily. "But what about-"

"Your gonna have to push through it." Enzan told him. "From what I can tell there must be an error in your movement processing, calibration, orientation, and balance units. For now your just gonna have to push through it."

It'd just be another challenge, he'd faced things like this all the time, why would now be any different? "Hmm..." If Megaman had to do it then he would, he'd make himself do it. "But will you guys be alright?"

"Don't worry about us, we have a way out. You'd better hurry though." Enzan prompted.

Megaman nodded, looking up at his task with an unwilling expression. It was time to see how strong this body really was, he crouched down on to his knees, clinching his eyes shut and then jumped up as high as he could. The first thing that happened to him was that he got dizzy, but by then he'd already sprang above the ceiling, and that was pretty far in itself. 'Damn..it...' With a tense groan and blurring vision he reached out to a distorted form he could barely see and grabbed a hold of it, it turned out to be the edge of a protruding steel beam on the ceiling of the floor above where he'd jumped from.

He just jumped a story and a half and didn't even realize it, this body really was strong.

"Megaman, are you aright?" Tadashi called down.

"I guess so... I can't see, everything is kind of blurry, and spinning." If he was a normal person then he would have gotten nauseous by now. Space was tight, there was no way he'd have room to use his legs from this point on. But it seemed he had every bit of the strength he had as a Navi, and the senses too, he couldn't see in the smoke, it didn't matter since he couldn't see past the the bury vision anyway. But he could avoided fires and electrical currents by their sound and feel of their heat.

'I can... do this.' Megaman grunted loudly and reached up, clinching the first thing he could feel and forced his arms to pull his body up. Enzan was right, he felt like he was stronger then this, but it was as if some heavy weight came to his arms when he did this that canceled out that strength. Megaman reached upward again, holding himself with one hand, and grabbed on to the next thing he felt, the second time it was much harder to pull himself up. His arms became numb and his head began aching, it was like he didn't have arms at all anymore, just a weight.

By the time he made it to the top his ears were ringing so loudly that he could barely hear and he was sure he would throw up, if he could at lest. "Megaman." Tadashi grabbed his arm and pulled him over the edge, strong enough to lift the decently weight body on to it's feet. Megaman immediately stumbled disorenatedly, Tadashi had to catch him and hold him up stably. "Are you ok?"

He panted heavily from something that shouldn't have made him tired, it took him a while to respond. "N-Not really..."

"Don't worry, I got you."

! - ! - !

"Zero?" Lan looked down at the PET, still there was nothing but static, but while he 'd stopped paying attention to it and was watching Megaman, _something_ changed, he couldn't place it though.

Enzan glanced over at Lan who was staring down at the PET. "What is it?" Enzan looked over his shoulder, the PET was the same as before, nothing had changed.

"I don't know, somethings different now…" Lan looked down at the screen in an inquisitional way, trying to figure it out the difference between this image of static and one before it.

"Are you sure?" Enzan just didn't see it, maybe Lan was imagining things. "Hurry up, we need to get out of this smoke."

"Zero? I know your in there somewhere." Lan thought more of it then Enzan did. "Zero..."

It seemed there was, in fact, something there.

As if by some type of trigger the static started to clear away like dust being blow away, revealing rows of continuous '201102' in red numbers. They streamed across the screen furiously.

"What….is this?" Enzan asked, looking down at the streaming numbers in awe. What did Lan just do?

"I'm not sure….Zero? Are you there?"

! - ! - !

The room Tadashi was working in was blindingly white just as every other one, completely circular just as he'd read on the map. There were cameras in 7 places surrounding them covering every angle of the room, and there was one lone panel and screen which controlled the manual settings and configurations as well as administrative controls. Other then this, the mainframe was used for one purpose by this facility, converting net navies and other data into the correct format.

They where inside 1 of 2 mainframes on the island, this one was directly above the second. It gave off a strange feeling when walking around inside.

When a step was taken, the white light, which at first seemed to be regular tiles, on the floor cleared away in a water like fashion. Revealing the wires and circuit boards underneath. Not to mention all of the white made this place seem surreal.

"That's the virus right? What is it doing?" Megaman stood next to Tadashi, this place made him feel like he was in a dream.

"I'm not sure, whatever it is, it's giving us more time."

The virus (currently on screen) stopped moving completely, that meant it also stop infecting. The strange program dropped the light sword it was carrying, clinching it's head with it's fleshy hands and cried out as if in pain.

! - ! - !

"Zero." Lan was sure it was him now, even though he couldn't see anything past the stream of '201102'. This had to be it, there was nothing else it could be, why else would his PET act like this.

This had to be it.

A voice, muddled with static replied, the static was to loud that the voice was incoherent.

This was it...

"Lan? What's going on?" Enzan knew Lan knew more about what was happening the he did, and this was pretty strange.

"I'm not sure but I know it's a good thing." Lan always was optimistic... "Look at the door."

With one loud, unified click, all of the doors had just unlocked.

! - ! - !

"You did it the elevator just unlocked." Megaman heard the distinct sound, but he was still unable to pry his eyes away from the screen. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Tadashi shifted the virus's video feed to a secondary screen while a command prompt came on on the primary. A blurring stream of numbers and letters followed, something Tadashi was amazing able to understand. "Look at this, It's the virus, it's changing." His fingers began moving over the keypad with fibrous strokes, moving hastily. "I still haven't put the firewall up." Tadashi shook his head and adjusted his glasses. Even with his time for escape temporarily prolonged with the virus's reprieve. He couldn't leave now, or else the net would be in really _serous_ trouble.

The virus was starting to spread again, this time infecting every thing it could touch at a slow, but gaining rate. At his rough calculations, he had 1 minutes at the most, he knew he couldn't do it, but he had to try at lest.

Megaman seemed to lose his focus on Tadashi's task completely, he's growing interested in the virus was now almost hypnotic. He watched the virus closely, he felt it, a pang in his head that made the headache he'd retained since he'd climbed on to this floor grow substantially. He winced and cried out loudly in pain, clinching his head with both hands as if that would some how ease the pain. "Ahggaaaaa!"

Tadashi immediately turned around "Megaman! What's wrong?"

"I don't know." His voice was strained, saturated with an unfounded pain. "Just...J-Just keep working."

Tadashi looked at Megaman, then at the screen Megaman was still staring at. The massive virus looked like it was splitting in half or something was being torn out of it by some inviable force, and Megaman was in horrible pain with no cause. This had to be connected. 'Megaman was infected with this virus...' Tadashi realized that what ever part of the '201102 virus' he was still infected with was reacting.

"What's... happening to me?" Megaman got this strange feeling that came with the pain. Some part of that virus was screaming and he seemed to be the only one that could hear it. "I...I have to get in there..."

"What?"

"I have to get in there." Megaman just barely refrained from screaming, biting down hard on his bottom lip to hold it back.

Why, Tadashi wasn't sure, but Megaman seemed adamant about it, so adamant that he looked as if he'd lose it if he didn't. "Hmm... Let me see then..." Tadashi looked over Megaman examiningly, he was an android, so there had to be some way to connect him to the outside... Where would it be?

The virus began shaking it's head wildly, trashing around uncontrollably. It let out a loud roar, one that Megaman could hear two voices inside of. The other was only faint, but just loud enough to be heard with in the first.

Tadashi first examined the back of Megaman's neck, "Here, this might just be..." He found what he was looking for just beneath Megaman's hair. There was a cord similar to those used in P.E.T's to connect to other devices. "This it it."

"I have to get there... I have to get in there." Megaman repeated almost frantically.

"Hm... If your planning on going in to the mainframe then I don't know what you expect to find. But you maybe able to buy me some time, but be careful, I'm not... at all sure what effects is going virus might have on you." Tadashi told him. He wasn't sure what effect the virus having right now. But Megaman could get him some time so he allowed this to happen despite his best instincts.

Tadashi gave a silent sigh and plugged him in.

! - ! - !

"Come on Zero, you can do this!" Lan spoke almost to himself, listening to static clearing away more and more each time the virus cried out. He could hear it on his infected P.E.T, A howling roar of the massive virus mixed with fierce screams of Zero that came through with more clarity every second, both sounded as if they were in pain.

"What's happening?" Enzan asked in confusion.

"I think... I think Zero's changing back." Lan told him hopefully, watching the streaming numbers closely. "Come on Zero!"

"Well he better do it fast, these fires aren't going to get any better…" The smoke was getting thicker, he could hardly breathe as it was. 'Wait... this is a holding room, then the other room must be a incubit room.' "Hold on." Enzan moved over to the door opposite Lan with quick steps and tried to open it.

It wasn't moving, something was blocking it from the other side. "Open Damnit!" Enzan held on to the handle and began ramming his shoulder in to it, he pounded and pounded in to it with all of his strength until he his shoulder started to hurt. With a small growl of frustration Enzan released the handle and took a step back, then with a small start for momentum he kicking the door. It seemed to be more effective, he could tell by the way it rattled with every strike. Finally after a few more kicks, he stepped back until he was about to bump in to Lan, then ran at the door full, ramming it with his other shoulder.

The door open so abruptly that he almost lost his balance and fell in to the wall of fire that awaited on the other side. "!" This whole room engulfed in flames from the floor all the way up to the ceiling, more importantly the glass on the capsules were starting to melt. The liquid inside was one of the more flammable chemicals in the facility Enzan had mentioned, if that green liquid caught fire... 'No!' Enzan grabbed a fire extinguisher resting in a case beside the door and swept it across the flames.

He had to stop those capsules from catching on fire.

! -! - !

Megaman looked around in awe at the damage done to his new setting, this mainframe looked as if it was far beyond saving, most of it now an oddly colored red. The area that were red was behind him, the other half still uninfected was blocked off by the massive virus, leaving only a few feet of neutral space.

The virus was howling fiercely, it was so much louder now that he was up close, by now the other voice could be heard clearly with in it, both resonating with equal volume. 'This is it... this is the virus?' Megaman felt like he was a severed limb, as if he was apart of that mass and in desperate need to be reconnected. 'No...No, no, no, no, no!'

That couldn't be right! He had to ignore that feeling!

'Just don't listen to it... besides, I have to slow this thing down.' What was most noticeable to Megaman was a transparent, blood red image of something, a Navi like form trying to force it's way out appeared from the virus's body, but it was being pulled back in.

"That must be him…" Megaman said to himself as if trying to confirm his own thought, 'Alright Lan ...' He lifted the buster on his arm and began charging, illuminating the barrel with gathering energy, 'I hope I'm right about this.' Pushing all doubt aside he fired a shot at the Virus, launching the blue energy mass just as the Navi like red form tried to pry itself free again.

The shot struck the Virus's chest and erupted in a small explosion of discharging blue power. Mutated flesh burst from the massive body's torso and the form fell from it's chest with the last needed push. With a human out cry the body fell from the Virus.

Megaman sprang in to the air, kicking off the hard body of the virus to boost himself higher. He dived outward, catching the form in his arms and landed safely on the ground.

There was a small reprieve before the red form seemed to take some details, before long it was an actual Navi, it was Zero. "You, you must be Megaman…" Zero blinked to clear his vision, taking deep, starved breathes as if he'd been suffocated.

Megaman rubbed his head lighting, noticing the feeling of connection with the virus was fleeting rapidly. "Yeah, and you must be Zero."

Zero slowly lifted his arm into the air and pointed at something over Megaman's shoulder. "You…may want to move."

'!' Without hesitation Megaman rolled the side, and with perfect timing as soon as he moved out of the way, Zero's sword landed blade first in to the ground.

"Heh heh." With an amused smile Zero held on to the hilt of the blade and pulled himself on to his feet, it took a second but he seemed to catch his breath. After that he felt as good as ever... and just as the feeling peeked he finally noticed that he didn't have his armor on.

In fact he didn't have _anything _on, "What the hell!" With an annoyed and angered sigh he looked towards the virus, covered in red. "You stole my armor Damnit!" He shouted, shaking his fist threateningly at it.

'...' Megaman could only laugh at Zero's reaction.

Zero turned to Megaman and glared at him fiercely. "This is not funny!" Zero said angrily, expecting some type of reply from the other Navi.

Megaman only pointed, indicating something of importance was behind.

"Wha-" Zero turned around just in time to see a large hand coming down on him, "!" Zero reflexively dived out of the way, but unfortunately with his hasted he hadn't got of to the best start and landed face first painfully on the ground.

"Are you ok?" Megaman laughed harder, knowing the fall wouldn't have been so painful if Zero had some clothes on.

Zero ignored him with another glare, and focused on getting his armor back. 'Damnit thing...'

Zero closed his eyes and concentrated as best he could with Megaman standing beside him laughing. It wasn't clear what he was doing, but whatever it was was causing the red metal like coating to radiate. With a flash the coating was stripped from the virus and shot into the air as if all one entity, it came down on Zero in one shining beam of red light and an uproar of dust.

When it all cleared away, Zero stood was fully clothed in his armor.

! - ! - !

"Zero!"

"Lan!" Zero became filled with excitement as soon as he heard Lan's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"...I still haven't figured that out."

Lan disconnected his PET from the door, he still remained connected with Zero through his wireless abilities. With a small cough Lan looked behind him in to the room Enzan had went in to, feeling his eyes begin to burn from the smoke. "Enzan! Let's go!" Lan called, peering his head in to the room.

_Boom_...

A loud explosion erupted from someplace above him, shaking the ground violently and throwing Lan disorientedly to the ground inside of the room. "Ahaaaaaaa!" He flinched as the doorway caved in, sending a flaming wreak from above tumbling down, blocking their exit and nearly smashing him in the process.

"Oh man, this is bad." Lan stumbled to his feet, noticing the connection with Zero had faded completely leaving nothing but static. 'But how!'

"Lan? Are you ok?" Enzan trudged threw the flames with a fire extinguisher in hand. It didn't do much for the fires on the ground, but it did by them some time with the chemicals in the capsules. The extinguisher was empty now, this fire was just to much for it to handle, and he was about to toss it aside when he saw the door was blocked.

The room filled with the black haze of trapped smoke and red emergency light, leaving little air or visibility.

"I'm fine, but this smoke isn't helping. Is there another way out of here?" Lan asked with a desperate hope, he flinched with a startled cry when he heard the fire near the door flare up.

"Right here." Enzan drew his arm back and threw the fire extinguisher through the glass separating this room from the holding room next to it. "Let's go!" Enzan forcefully grabbed Lan by his arm and climbed over in to the holding room, Lan barely followed behind.

The two quickly headed out the unobstructed door in this room back in to the hallway, just making it when they heard another ear deafening explosion. The ground did more the quake, it seemed to jumping up and down surreally, making it almost imposable to keep balance.

And things got worse... "Lan!" Enzan quickly pushed Lan down just as the right wall exploded, sending a wall of flames and a outburst of metal debris flying outward.

That was just the first capsule, and the others would go soon after. More damage was done to the levels above then to this floor...

'...W-what was that!' Lan's eyes shot open, he didn't even know he'd closed them.

He found himself laying face down with Enzan laying on top of him, a thick blanket of burning steel and concrete on top of him, he was protecting him from harm. "Enzan..." Lan lifted hims hands to the boy's shoulders and began shaking. "Enzan."

It was Enzan was knocked unconscious and he looked as if he wasn't going to get back up, Lan knew that already when he didn't immediately get up.

"No... Enzan!" Lan didn't have time to try and wake him up, not that he really could.

Lan slowly climbed on to his feet, holding Enzan on his back. 'He's...so heavy...' "Ahhaaa!" Another explosion followed unexpectedly after the first, sending a wall of fire down what was left of the hallway at speeds that Lan knew he couldn't out run.

But he didn't have to, all the remain capsules went off at once, making the quaking floor drop completely. The next thing Lan knew, he was falling into a cloud of black smoke and darkness. "AaaaaaaaHHHHH!"

! - ! - !

"Megaman you'll have to fight this thing some other time, We have to go _now_!" Megaman heard Tadashi speaking from outside.

"What's happening?" Megaman jumped back as a the lower mass of flesh of virus that splurged outward like water began expanding.

"This place is going up in flames." With the '201102 virus' infecting nearly every system in the building, including the camera's, he could tell what was happening. "Don't worry about me, you get out of here!" Zero said, two pairs of wings appeared on his back, one a shinning white, one a deep black.

Megaman wasn't sure what Zero was doing but he was sure it involved escape. "Alright." Megaman nodded, just as Tadashi plugged him out.


	10. Chapter 9: Spread My Wings

Chapter 9: Spread My Wings

When Megaman opened his eyes his vision was greeted by flames bursting through the ground like erupting volcanoes. "Whoa!"

Tadashi was already by the elevator in the hall waiting for him "Come on!"

With out hesitation Megaman scrambled to his feet and ran out of the main frame, the service elevator was conveniently close, just as soon as he'd walked out of the door he was face to face with a large steel gate. The six deadbolt like locks mounted in pairs of three on both sides where released and all that remained was the door itself, a heavy steel gate that weighed about 450 pounds.

It was usually automatic since it was practically inhuman to lift, but unfortunately the virus had reached it before they did. So they would have to do this the manual way. Tadashi took one end and Megaman took the other end about 7 feet away.

"Ready?" Tadashi asked, he crouched down low and slipped his fingers under the small crack that appeared when the gate was unlocked.

"Yeah." Megaman nodded.

"Alright, go!"

On those words both of them began lifting, or at lest trying too, they both found it a lot heaver then they first thought it would be.

Another explosion roared beneath them, ripping through the ground just barely behind them in a fissure and burst of heated air. "Just ignore it!" Tadashi called out, easier said then done since in a situation like this people were prone to begin panicking. The door started to lift, slowly but surely they were moving it, much too slowly for their needs. Flames spewed from the fissure that just formed behind them with the next earthshaking explosion.

Megaman winced at the heat, once again starting to feel oddly disoriented from using a higher level of physical capacity. "Uha...No, not now..."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm getting really dizzy... and out of breath." Megaman dropped his head against the steel gate with the beginnings of sweat grazing his skin. Things started to lose focus, his vision became unsharpened and blurry. Somewhere in that disorientation his hold started to loosen...

"Megaman, Listen to me!" Tadashi shouted firmly in a voice that Megaman's mind immediately focused on, it was so forceful and commanding he couldn't help but do so. "I know this is hard on you, but you have to pay attention."

Another explosion could be heard loudly from above, bursting through the ceiling in a rush of flames and falling green liquid, if this pattern contemned then the next one would be...

"I...I'm trying!" Megaman nearly screamed it out, clinching on to the bottom of the metal gate tightly as if it was a life line. That slow rate of ascent doubled and with an appropriate amount of teamwork, they were able to lifting the gate off the ground up to about chest level.

Tadashi reached over and abruptly ceased Megaman by the arm, pulling him stumbling into a large elevator used for carrying large and bulky materials. It more closely resembled a lift in it's open design. "Are you ok?" Tadashi pressed the appropriate button on a nearby panel, hearing the flames crash against the gate just as it rolled shut.

Megaman didn't respond right away, he just stared at the floor with a wanton, dazed expression, as if he couldn't see at all. And at that moment he was close to being blind. "This…" He spoke in a stumbling child like voice, his fatigue forced him to do so. "-May be a problem!" Megaman pointing under the lift, visible because of the chain link floors.

He may not have seen it clearly, but he could feel the heat long before Tadashi could. Flames were rushing upward from the shaft below him. "What do we do, there's no way out quick enough."

"No, just hold on, the cables will break long before it reaches us." As soon as Tadashi finished speaking as if on que the lift was suddenly sent rushing upward. One of the main cables had burned through, particularly the one used for descending. "We should be fine as long as the counterweight cable holds." Tadashi said, watching the flames grow farther and farther away with increasing speed. He felt as if he'd be thrown off, though he knew he just had to hold on tightly enough...

"It's not gonna hold!" The blurriness within Megaman's vision seemed to sharpen just in time, he could sense it happening before Tadashi could. "We have to go!" Hhe could hear the strain on the wire….

"..." Tadashi looked up at the two main cables, one rapidly going down and one pulling them upward. "Megaman, follow me."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Zero! You have to help me find Lan!" Megaman shouted hastily, just as soon as he got to another control room he Jacked in and found Zero. It was more like Zero had found him, and just in time to.

The system they were in was completely red, it had already been completely infected by the virus. Technically Megaman shouldn't have been able to be in this area, he knew it, he could feel a light pull as if he was being sucked down into the infected data. But something was keeping him stable...

"Lan's gone? What happened?" Zero asked frantically. He dropped down from the sky and landed in front of Megaman, the two toned wings stretched fully.

"I don't know, maybe you can get in to a security camera and look or something." Megaman said hopefully. From what Lan had told him about Zero he knew that it was simple task for the virus.

Zero shook his head disappointedly, "That- That _thing_ has control of all of them. And the ones that it doesn't are down completely." He told him regretfully.

He wondered how Zero knew all of this, but he did see him come out of that monstrosity in question, he probably boar some kind of connection with it. "So, if that virus is deleted then… you can used the cameras to find Lan…?" Megaman asked.

"Yes." Zero agreed. "I'm pretty sure, but we're gonna have to hurry because if those fires take out the Cameras then we're just wasting time."

"But….can we stop it?" Megaman asked unsurely, "It's so powerful… I can feel it, it's really creepy." He could feel it even now, just as when he heard it screaming and felt that strange and odd desire to assimilate himself with it, he felt like he'd been a severed body part.

When he thought about it, it was strange he didn't feel like that anymore. As soon as Zero came out of it then...

"I'm sure of it, we can because we have to." Zero drew the hilt of a sword strapped on to his waist and with a clinch of his fist a streak of light came forth and formed the blade.

'Hmm... that's a weird weapon.' Megaman nodded agreeingly while forcing that stray thought from his mind.

He didn't know what he would do.

If he had a PET, he was sure Lan's father could help him out with a few chips. His chances were slim to none now that he didn't couldn't use any, how could he fight with nothing to fight with. The best he could do was to act as a decoy, and he would of he had to be. 'I wonder if Zero knows any attacks that would be useful.'

On to their next problem.

"How do we get to it?"

Zero smirked, shaking the wings on his back lightly just to barely to acknowledge their presence, "I'll take you."

! - ! - !

Tadashi was quick to see the problem, if Megaman had no weapons, he was little more then useless.

He now sat in another control room on the opposite side of the island then they entered into before. It was similar in design so he didn't have to search to find his way around it. It seemed, though, that he'd be pined here for the duration of his stay on the island. Most other routes were blocked except for a nearby Emergency Exit, so he had to depend on Megaman and Zero to find Lan for him.

They couldn't do that with that virus controlling everything.

Speaking of which, didn't Zero come out of that virus? Lan had given him the full details of what had happened the previous day, details of Zero and all. If Zero came out of that larger virus, then maybe it could have unfortunate side effects. For all he knew it might be able to manipulate him, considering Zero seemed to be a piece of it. 'I wonder about this Zero... hmm...' While he was thinking about Zero anyway, the question came up in his mind... What happened to Megaman? When Megaman first came face to face with the Virus he about ready to dive in to it.

Could he really trust them to do this?

He looked at Megaman's body sitting dormant on the ground against the node he was currently in front of, then down at one of the only screens that remained functional. 'There has to be something I can do from here.' He thought to himself, maybe there was another way, port or something so that he could plug in to Megaman?

'If the cord is here then...' Tadashi checked around Megaman's neck where there would most likely be one. His search was futile and he found none, leaving him with no alternatives. They were his only hope of finding Lan right now, if the virus wasn't deleted, there was no way he would be able to hope to make it anywhere near where Lan and Enzan were, mainly because he didn't know _where_ they were.

_Dr_. Tadashi wasn't a leader in his field for nothing, an idea quickly came in to his mind as something always did in a tight situation. It came with out fail. 'The only way to connect Megaman is that cable, so maybe if I connect a divider to it… I can use some chips to help him out.'

A divider wouldn't be that hard to find in this place, and he if he couldn't find one he would make one.

But there was only one problem with that plan, he didn't have any battle chips. "…" 'Damn.'

The virus hadn't completely effected this place, it would be a challenge in this particular room, but in a place like this he could create his own program that would mimic the battle chips.

! - ! - !

"This is amazing!"

Megaman looked around in astonishment at this new world. It was blurred severely, all he could see clearly where light sources, were they were and where they weren't. This place didn't seem real, just white light and shadow mixed together in distortions surrounding him.

Zero was holding him firmly by the waist and was carrying him. This did raise another question, how was Zero able to take Megaman with him? It technically shouldn't have been able to happen...

'I can't believe he can do something like this?' Megaman almost felt like a child because of how amazing he thought this was, he could barely contain his excitement. He'd never felt such a feeling of freedom, it was something just as surreal as being in a real body for the first time. Only this was something completely different, like he didn't have any type of body at all, digital or physical. This was so..."How can you see where your going?"

"I don't know." Zero shrugged, he never really thought about it. It just came natural to him. "I guess I've gotten use to this by now." He descended sharply enough to make Megaman let out a cry of surprise. "...Are you... ok?"

Megaman shifted his eyes away in embarrassment. "Just wasn't expecting it."

"Sorry, I'll try to give you a warning next time." Zero told him, and contradictory to his statement he quickly veered to the left with out a word or warning other wise.

"Whoa!" Megaman clasped his hands over his mouth to repress any farther noise but by then it was too late. A deep blush crept across his face when he heard Zero laughing at him, "You did that on purpose!"

Zero shifted one hand from around Megaman's waist and patted him on the helmet protected head. "That's for laughing at me when that thing stole my armor."

Megaman shook Zero's hand from his head. "This is not funny-"

Before Megaman could even finish his sentence Zero pulled him backwards and began another sharp decent downwards, this time faster then the one's before it. It came so fast and so suddenly that again Megaman let out a startled shout, but quickly clinched his jaw and stopped. Zero was already laughing again by then. "I'm glad your enjoying this!" Now that he was practically laying on top of the virus because of Zero's choice of decent, it was fairly easy for him to send a sharp elbow to Zero's side.

It was hard enough to be felt even through the armor, but Zero just took it deservingly. "Yeah, I am." He couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy the reactions he was getting. Feeling still a bit impishly, he removed his hand from Megaman's head and wrapped it tightly around his chest. Then tilted backwards heavily, much to Megaman's dismay, until they were completely up side down taking a sharp dive.

"!" Megaman tensed uneasily at the tilting and drew in a sharp breath when he found himself in a complete free fall. "ZERO!"

Zero burst out laughing, serving to deepen the blush spread across Megaman's cheeks. "What's wrong?" He asked with an almost gloating sarcasm. He pulled back slightly and with a swift flap of his wings he brought the both of them right side up again.

Megaman snorted and looked away again in embarrassment. "What happened to you was still funnier." He muttered.

Zero narrowed his eyes in his own embarrassment at the situation in question. "Just get ready, we're here."

As if falling in to water, they dropped through an indistinguishable deviser and the swirling blur of light and shadow began to sharpen into a distinct setting. By the time it all came into focus they were back in level 4's independent server. Right beneath them was the virus, only it had become much bigger and more wide spread.

With no other place to go, Zero was forced to land on the mass of out ward spreading flesh that sprawled out virus's body like a pool of water. It wasn't the most stable place to be, it was soft and it twitched, every once and a while it everything would violently pulse once like a heartbeat.

(Megaman?)

"Huh?" Megaman nearly flinched when he heard a voice in his ear unexpectedly. "Is that you mister Haikari?" Megaman, though surprised by the voice, was sure of who he'd heard, or he was just hallucinating.

(Listen, I'm going to try and upload a new program into the system for you, I'm not sure if it will work correctly but you'll just have to work with it.)

Tadashi had read his mind, he wasn't sure what he was suppose to do in this situation with out anything to at lest defend himself. "What is it?"

Zero suddenly called out warningly, snapping Megaman back into attention. "Megaman, move!"

"?" Megaman looked up just in time to see a large hand slamming down on him, "!" He dived to the side, narrowly escaping the blow as the hand stuck the ground. The shock wave from the blow sent a strong burst of air outward that knocked him off balance and sent him falling face first, he barely had time to realize before another fist came pounding down on to him.

Megaman rolled out of the way and pushed on to his feet with a few steps forward, only to be stroke by the two large fist cuffed together hammering into his back. "Oooohhfff!" Megaman was sent flying through the air by it's strength, he ascended upward in a large arc and descended sharply, as soon as he hit the ground he began sliding in a disoriented tumble before he came to a painful stop.

Megaman cringed as he sat up having to force himself to move knowing their was no time to waist, holding his chest with both arms. "Hey... Now would be a good time... for that program." From his voice he was obviously holding in repressed pain.

(If your ready then alright.)

There was a short reprieve as a stream of code surrounded his left arm in a mosaic blur, then it call came together as his arm changed in to a large, blue gattling gun. It about 3 feet long, a round steel barrel with 8 individual barrels with in, all surrounding his buster in the center. 'Oh man, this thing is heavy.' As soon as it formed, Megaman's arm dropped weakly to his side from the unexpected weight, it was easily heavier then everyone of the attachments he'd equipped before.

He hoped the loss in speed would be worth it, and Tadashi had _just_ created this, it may not even work right.

(How dose it feel?)

"Heavy!"

(Sorry about that, but it was the most powerful thing I could construct. We don't know how strong that thing is.)

"No, it'll be fine." Megaman just hoped this would be _enough_ power.

The monstrous virus screeched as it sent one of the large fist pounding down on Zero, he jumped back just out of reach as it hit the ground before him and began to attack with his drawn sword. "Megaman!" A fierce yell sounded as he lifted the light saber and pulled it down over his shoulder, slashing across the knuckles and fingers and doing so a second time when he pulled the weapon back it. The fist was pulled back out of range, a large open gash streaming a bluish blood like liquid from the wound. "Are you alright over there?"

"I'm fine." Megaman looked down at the gattling gun with a nervous reluctance and with a hopeful sigh he lifted it with all of the physical strength he'd gained and started firing. "Huh? What?" He tried to fire at lest, only there was one problem. The barrels on the gun were suppose to spin so that it could fire, but they _didn't_ spin. "Mister Haikari?"

(I didn't have time to check for errors, you'll just have to go with it.)

He'd just have to work with it though, 'Fine, I can still do this.' Megaman put his opposing hand on the barrel and spun as hard as he could, then he lifted the gun towards the virus and opened fire.

In a loud noise, bullets flew in a furry, pumping in the mass of flesh on the creature's side.

The virus leaned to the side with a loud howl, wading skillfully through the sea of it's own body and moving out of the line of fire. "Hold on!" Zero called out to make sure he wasn't it as he followed up, he ran forward head strong into distracted monstrosity, kicked off of it's torso and leaped a tall bounds up to it's head level. "Die damn you!" The light saber glowed brighter and became longer as infected data from Zero himself poured into it, he lifted the blade above his head and slashed across the side of it's face with one furious swipe, then skillfully whipping the blade back upward and sliced into the deformed face again. Before he fell, he lifted the blade on to his shoulder, wielding it as if it were a bat and swung it forcefully into the side of it's head.

The creature howled in pain, more of the bluish blood like liquid streaming out of it's badly damaged head like a river. Before Zero could start falling, the virus thrust it's hand out and grabbed him in retaliation. It's hand constricted and squeezed him tightly, drawing a sharp cry of pain from Zero.

"Zero!" Megaman charged at the virus, holding the gattling gun in his hand with a noticeable decrease in speed. He spun the barrel and opened fire, having to stop completely to fire the large weapon that had a lot of recoil. Each shot he fired into it's arm drew a spurt of blue blood but didn't mange to free Zero from the vengeful virus's hold, Zero was quickly being crushed to death with another scream of pain that came from tightening.

'It's not working!' Megaman stopped firing and dropped the weapon heavily to his sided with dead weight, his arm could barely take the strain. 'It's too heavy, and it's not...' his mind quieted when he looked down at the Buster Cannon in the center of the gun. 'That's it!'

Though he didn't doubt it was probably powerful he was unsure in using it, he still did so, watching it pull in air in visible white streaks and quickly converting to a glowing energy. In a few seconds he had a large ball growing at the end of the cannon that swirled like a whirl pool with the same streaks of white. 'It's... heavy!' Holding it with both hands to compensate the added weight he hastily fired the blast, sending the blue and white orb flying at the Virus's arm.

A tail of discharging white energy streaked behind it as it burned through the air, connecting with the Virus's arm in an eruption of smoke and outward thrown flamed, forcing the Virus to release Zero with a high pitched scream.

Zero fell to the ground limply, clinching his chest directly over his heart with both arms, he felt like every bone in his body had been crushed. "Damnit!" he mumbled in pain, staring at the '201102 Virus' with a look of a burning furry that could only come from some deep set hatred.

"Zero." Megaman was by his side in a second, extending a hand to help him up. "Can you still-"

Zero pushed Megaman's hand away as if it hadn't been there at all, instead he reached for his dropped sword and stumbled to his feet with staggering steps. "Just die already!" With a primal rage he burning through him he charged at the large enemy blindly. He didn't let up for a second, driving his sword into the first thing he could reach. Despite being hit over and over in his near suicidal attempts to attack, he still ran persistently after his enemy, his sense of logic overridden by anger.

"Zero." Megaman watched him in his attempts with confusion. Why was he so angry, why was he _this_ angry? Despite Megaman's prompting for him to stop Zero just kept going in his own rage. 'What's wrong with him? Why dose he hate this thing so much?' Megaman ran towards Zero, his speed was severely cut by his new weapon. Which proved to be a big weakness, the virus was faster then expected.

Megaman was blind sided by a strong punch from the large virus that sent him in to the ground, pinned there by the clinched hand. The fist lifted, driving down powerfully and pounding in to him hard enough to leave an imprint, lifting again and pounding him again, and again in a succession so rapid that he couldn't draw the strength to move. The virus finally tore a loud cry of pain from the Navi, nearly knocking him unconscious.

Megaman's vision started fading, dimming into a deep black. 'No!' He managed to stay awake when the attack finally ceased, he forced himself to stand to his feet. This battle was starting to look down and near hopeless, nothing they did really seem to hurt it as much as they need. It seemed with the two of them it would take too long to wear it down.

Zero growled angrily, having some of the rage beaten out of him, a sense of logic returned. "Are you alright?" He asked, quickly dropping into a crouch to avoid another punch from the virus. They both took a step back as the second fist came flying at them.

"I'll mange." Megaman told him "Why are you so mad at this thing?"

"Forget it, just keep fighting!"

'Hmm..." With his mind in deeper contemplation then before he spun the barrel, lifted the gattling gun on his arm and opening fire on the virus with a lock on it's neck and head. '...Lan said something about Zero...what did he tell me...' Megaman tried hard to remember as he watched a barrage of bullets burrow into the monstrosity... Now he remembered, Zero had a sense of self-loathing since he was a virus, though Megaman would have never guessed it by looking at him, or even by the way he acted.

Just by thinking about it a little deeper he could figure this whole thing out. Zero's data had been corrupted when trying to help Lan reach him, a day later this horrible virus showed up. And in that time, some how Zero remained in tacked and separated himself from the '201102 Virus.' Just that fact alone meant that Zero was already nothing more then a severed limb from the virus he'd become when he was corrupted. 'Wait...if he's still apart of that thing, what's gonna happen when we beat it?' More importantly, why was Zero fighting so hard to destroy it? He had to know that maybe if it was deleted that their was a _very good_ chance that he'd go down with it.

It was because he hated himself, he was a virus, but he felt like a net navi.

'Zero...'

"Megaman what are you doing? Help me out here." Zero called out. They both knew they would have to hit harder if they wanted to survive, they could run (maybe), but they would be worn before they made it (hence the maybe).

Megaman looked at him almost fearfully. "It's no use, we'll never beat it at this rate."

'What's he so...' Zero didn't realize it on first glance, but Megaman wasn't scared for himself, he was scared that if they didn't succeed that they'd never find Lan... 'My sword's not doing it, I have to find a way to hit it harder...'

Zero was a virus and everything was infected with the same data he infected with, this should have been an advantage, so why wasn't it? 'If I can use the system to attack, I can take this thing out…' Zero thought to himself, he should have realized this before, he and the virus had marginally the same data. He should be able to do this. Zero jumped in to the air to avoid another punch flying at him. The Virus's other hand came at him, sweeping across the air about to grab him. "No way!" Zero kicked off the palm, pushing himself into a back flip and avoiding it's grasp before it closed around him. Then with a feat of agility Zero dragged his sword across it's open hand on his fall.

Megaman was still firing, taking advantage of Zero's unintended decoyism.

He noticed that it was doing something strange with it's mouth... 'What is that?' a red energy was swirling in to a ball just it had done when he was charging his buster cannon, Zero didn't seem to see it though. Unfortunately that's where it seemed to be aiming.

"Zero! Move!" Megaman shouted desperately, but Zero was still falling, he didn't know what he was suppose to avoid as if he could in mid air. '!' Megaman jumped towards him fearlessly, the back of his head knew he wouldn't make it in time, that didn't stop him from trying.

The blood red orb in the virus's mouth spewed fourth in to a thick ray, it moved fast, almost too fast to recognize until it passed by or hit.

"No!"

A red blur came from Zero's side, snatching him out of they way in the nick of time.

Megaman watched as the ray passed him, below the red light's surface he could see a stream of '201102' while it moved by his face. He wondered would it really hurt Zero until he saw it strike the reddened ground and drill a hole strait through. "Whoa!"

Zero hit the ground, managing to land on his feet and slide to a stop after having been knocked out of the way of that attack, '?" He looked around frantically for whatever had just saved him. "Huh?" Finally after not seeing that red blur on either side of him he turned around.

Behind him he spotted a Navi that was almost similar to him yet completely different, it was none other then Blues, but how he got here was unknown since Enzan was currently missing. "Who are you?"

Blues shook his head. "Not important right now." he said, indicating the virus that was charging another red beam in it's open mouth, but this one seemed different. It seemed to be more flat then the rounded ray before it.

The orb burst before it even left it's mouth, shooting out a rain of smaller rays in rapid succession at Megaman. He it quickly pivoted and charged forward in the opposite direction, the line of smaller rays trailing closely behind him in a gun like fashion. Even with the heavy weapon equipped he was still able to out run it, just narrowly though, he could feel the heat from the rays pounding into the ground behind him. He only stopped to look back when the heat faded. 'That was too close...' Nervously he ran over to Blues and Zero.

"What are you doing here?" Megaman asked immediately, he'd realized as soon as he'd seen Blues that this could mean Enzan was nearby, and Lan was with him.

"I'm looking for Enzan, Do you know where he is?" Blues asked.

Unfortunately that's wasn't what it meant at all. "No." Megaman shook his head in disappointment. "We're looking for Lan, but the only way we're going find him is if we go through this thing first."

Blue silently cursed to himself in frustration as he raised his sword, "What are we waiting for then, let's go!" The Navi shouted angrily, jumping fearlessly at towards the virus. The virus lifted it's large hand and slammed it too the ground trying to smash him, but Blues managed to go under the attack and deliver a sharp slash to the hand with a light sword battle chip, using that blow to push himself up and climb on to the back of large hand. Blues charged up the arm quickly, coming to it's shoulder before the large virus could even try to get him off. He lifted the sword above his head and plunged the blade in to it's neck, then pulling back and thrusting in again quickly. With increasing speed he drove the sword into the mutated flesh a about 10 or so times before the virus turn towards him and fired a well aimed red beam from it's mouth at him. Blue's jumped to the side, feeling he the beam just barely graze his face.

The force of the closely passing ray knocked him back with out having ever touched him, sending him flying back towards Megaman and Zero, hitting the ground with an audible crash and rolling to a stop. Before he could even think about what had just happened to him, Megaman was there, helping him to his feet.

"He's weak." Zero said, watching the virus closely from where he was. He could see it in every movement it made, especially how it was taking more time in between attacks. "I can feel it. If we just give it a few big hits then we can take him down."

Which brought a thought to the forefront of Megaman's mind. "Wait, if that's the virus, and you're the virus, what's going to happen to you when we delete it?"

It was true Zero was the virus, he used to be the AI of it, what stopped it from being a mindless worm. He felt like staring up at it was like staring at his true self, it _had_ to be destroyed. "It doesn't matter, we have to take this thing out now if we want to find Lan." It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it before now, it was all he could think about.

'If I am destroyed, I should take all of the virus with me.' Zero thought to himself, that would be a last option. But right now he was concentrating on how he could use all the infected data in the system... That's when it came to him, the perfect way to do it. "You guys go first." He smirked to himself as his mind started to formulate it's own plan. "I'll need a few seconds."

Blues looked at the two, deciding it would be best to ask what was happening after all of this was over. Now he just had to focus on taking this virus down, and he knew how he was going to do it, then he could find Enzan, that's all that mattered. Blues held up his sword high above his head using a mastered program advance, he no longer needed two more swords to execute it.

A blue energy shined from the blade, shooting up in to the sky in a brilliant light. "It'll be more effective if we do this together!"Blues looked over at Megaman, waiting for him to finish before attacking.

Megaman had already begun to charge up the buster cannon in the center of the gattling gun. "Yeah." The blue orb at the center of the gun had grown substantially, it was starting to obstruct his vision and he started to wonder if he'd be able to control it. 'Time to find out.' Megaman lifted his hand to the barrel and gave it a hard spin, it created it's on small suction, pulling some energy from the cannon backwards. It traveled in to the barrels, forming orbs of there own.

"Ready?" Blues called out.

"Let's do it!"

Megaman opened fire and Blues attacked with the energy enriched blade. A large swirling blue and white ray came from the cannon, it was larger then Megaman's body and moved a little slower then the previous one, just slow enough to connect just when Blues's blade came down on the Virus. Both attacks connected and exploded a flare of blinding white light, drawing a loud roar from the virus that could be heard over the ear deafening noise.

"Perfect!" Zero pulled in all of the infected data from system in a stream of binary code from all that directions in red streams, compressing it in to his sword that now glowed in a pulsing yellow and red. "It's my turn now!" He didn't hesitate at all, watching the stunned creature keeling over, smoldering from the last two attacks. Not even thinking about himself one bit, he pulled his weapon back and threw the sword at the Virus while the explosion still ripped through it's body and burned away it's fleshy tan body. As soon as it connected Zero fell over. His arms warped around his stomach and he screaming in pain, his cries rang in time with the virus's pained howls.

Another explosion came from all of the infected data, this one knocked Megaman and Blues to the ground and a large shock wave propagated outward in a red streak. Damaging what was left of system even farther.

Zero screamed louder as his body involuntary spasmed violently, he curled in to a ball from the pain, more sharp convolutions shook his body.

"Zero?" Megaman forced himself off of the ground ran over to him, he nearly fell in his haste as he knelt down beside him and trying to figure out what was wrong. No, that was foolish, he knew that Zero was the virus, and if it was destroyed, it would probably take him with it. "Damnit ..."

"What's wrong with him?" Blues, shielding his eyes from the intense light coming from the detonating virus, was the next to make it over to Zero.

"He's... he's connected, somehow, to that virus. I was afraid of this, if it dies then I think... that he goes with it." Megaman shifted his eyes away from Blues back down at Zero, who after some trouble managed to somehow pry him out of the ball he'd curled himself into and scoped him into his arms.

Just as suddenly as it had started the screaming stopped, and so did Zero's movement.

"Zero...no ..."Megaman winced lightly, he almost dropped Zero. 'My... my chest hurts...'

Like the perfect virus he was, when put in a life threatening position. Zero had to mutate or be deleted.

"Megaman?" Zero's voice called out weakly, his eyes closed tightly and his body became tense.

"Yeah?" Megaman looked down, hoping he didn't say that was related to his potential death. He could barely focus on it, the pains in his chest had become so intense, so fast. "Ahh...!"

Zero's body began to glow with a red aura that moved like a low flame, causing Megaman's pain to flare up.

"Move."

Megaman dropped Zero and fell on to his back, something was happening to him, to both of them…


	11. Chapter 10: You

Chapter 10: You

'… … …'

'… … … … ..'

'…? … .'

'?'

'!'

'!'

Enzan's mind slowly drifted back in to reality, he was barley aware that he was awake, or alive for that matter. As his senses started returned to him the first thing Enzan was actually aware of was the pain. His whole body hurt, from the throbbing aching of his arms and legs to the pounding of his head, to the piercing pain of his eyes and hair. The only thing that could come close to even being realized beside it was how hot he felt.

'Oh god it hurts...damn, my body...' A black humor came over him, even though he was barely able to think yet. 'At lest, I know I'm...still alive.' Alive...Alive...memories of what happened came flooding back to him, and with that... 'Lan! Is...Is Lan ok?'

That thought was the only thing that gave him the will to resist drifting back into the pulling grasp of unconsciousness that held him. Enzan stirred, causing the pain to temporally intensify, and slowly opened his eyes. At first all he saw was a white blur, but with a strained squint everything cleared, revealing white tiles and bright florescent lights. Pain came when he did that, forcing him to shut them again. From what he saw, it could only mean that he must be... 'In the hospital?…What happened?'

'Huh?' Enzan heard a soft breathing sound nearby, it took his fragmented mind a moment to realize that it wasn't his own. 'Is it...Is it..?' The small hope of what he thought the sorce was motivated him to sit up. He tried to at lest. 'Oww...' the pain was too much...so he decided to do it all at once. With a swift movement he forced himself up right, wincing in pain and bitting down hard on his bottom lip to keep from screaming.

It was worth it when he saw Lan sitting in a chair next to him, he was sleeping with his head laid down on the side of the bed by his leg. 'He's...He's alright.' He couldn't measure how relieved he was right now, it really made his injuries worth it.

Speaking of injuries, his forehead was tightly bandaged with white cloth to seal the stitched lacerations in various places in the area encompassed. A series of smaller bandages lined his cheeks to cover smaller cuts, burns and scrapes. '...' Enzan looked over himself to see the rest of his body and why it hurt so much. His left wrist was set in a cast up to the elbow, and a his whole chest was covered in bandages, wrapped around his torso and shoulders thick enough to be a shirt. The rest were just cuts and bruises, nothing really beyond that. It hurt like hell though, especially his head which seemed to be pounding in a time with his racing heartbeat. What was easily the second most uncomfortable thing was all of the cords and Ivs he was hooked up to, not to mention this tube down his throat.

He was tempted to wake Lan up and ask him what happened, but he after a moment of silent contemplation he decided to wait. Lan looked like he needed all of the rest he could get, and he was tired himself, and hurt. Enzan laid back, closing his eyes.

After a few moments it became apparent that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, possibly because of the pounding headache among other things, it seemed to be the worst pain. '...He's alright.' There was a feeling of relief that came over him again, knowing that these injuries weren't in vain. He didn't really know why he did it, it was strictly an impulse.

He knew the explosion was about to happen, logically aware of where it would happen by a simple process of thought. Only Lan hadn't been so attentive "Damnit Lan, you never think." Enzan snorted, Lan never really seemed to think logically, just on his own little thought that everything would work out. Enzan didn't have the luxury of being so liberal, he was bound by careful planing where Lan could take a big risk and hoped it worked out.

Somehow, Enzan admired that freedom of thought Lan had, whether it be by stupidity or confidence.

Anyway, he could see what was about to happen and Lan had no idea. There was no way he could warn Lan in time, he couldn't speak fast enough, nor could Lan understand fast speech even if he could. Enzan surprised himself, his body just moved on it's own with listening to his mind, which had been screaming not to do what it doing.

None of that he remembered, the only thing he did remember was that he tried to protect Lan, and this must have been the end result. "Why...Why did I do it?" Enzan sighed at how uncomfortably hot he was, how he couldn't even wipe the sweat from his forehead because it hurt to much to lift his arm.

It didn't matter why, he did it and despite being unhappy with Lan's obliviousness, he was glade he did. The suffering was worth it. "Damnit Lan." Enzan smiled, "Your such an idiot."

! - ! - !

Lan woke up about as quickly as he fell asleep, as soon as some consciousness came he wasted no time lifting his head as if by inane instinct. He slowly rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand while a completely wide awake Enzan quickly closed his before Lan could notice.

Lan looked up at Enzan with cleared vision, he couldn't help but sigh when he saw that he still hadn't awaken. "Enzan... It's been 5 day already, I'm worried about you." Lan dropped his head sadly, while Enzan's eyes almost shot open when he heard how long he'd been out but managed not to move.

Lan seemed to be getting frustrated at something that was unchangeably out of his control."God Enzan, you haven't even moved!" He was angry at himself, for not seeing it coming, for not being able to stop Enzan from doing what he did. "Why did you have to cover me? Why did you have to protect me?...This is all my fault."

Lan dropped his head back down on the bed into his arms, staring at Enzan this time.

Though he couldn't see it, he felt Lan's eyes on him, giving him an almost piercing feeling.

"I wonder if you can hear me…" Lan rubbed the back of his head nervously though he knew there was nothing there to be embarrassed at. "I so sorry Enzan, you had to protect me and this is what happened to you. Why... am I so weak that _you_ had to protect me?"

Enzan had never heard Lan sound this way, so depressed... so self loathing. He wanted to open his eyes just to make him feel better. But yet he still waited.

"Well Blues is worried about you, he didn't say it, but you could tell. It's actually kinda funny, you should see it." Lan laughed a little to himself, forcing away the impending sense of depression hanging over him as best as he could. "Megaman, Blues, and Zero beat that virus that was in your system, I'm sure you'd be happy about that…" Lan became quiet when he thought about it, as if he was unsure about something he wanted to say next. "I though Zero was done for, but he's ok. You should meet him. I guess you can't do that unconscious."

Lan was silent again, not speaking for a long while. Enzan could feel Lan's despair. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry." Lan buried his head into his arms, feeling on coming tears blurring his vision.

Enzan was really starting to feel bad about this, he wasn't sure what he was hoping to hear from Lan. But he didn't want to make him worry like this, not make him feel this bad. '...Lan...'

He couldn't take it, finally it had become too much and he stopped laying idly by. He opened his eyes and placed his hands behind him to push himself up, he moved slowly, groans of pain forcing themselves out audibly despite trying to repress them. The reaction was truly worth the wait, he watched Lan's teary eyes grow wide in something completely indescribable and a surprised gasp escaped from his mouth as it fell open. "E-Enzan!"

With tears falling from his eyes, Lan dived on to the bed and wrapped his arms around Enzan's waist in a tight hug. An overwhelming sense of joy and relief flooded him, forcing more tears to stream from the happy eyes. "Ow! Ow! What the hell?" Enzan shouted. He slowly lifted his hands on to Lan's head and tried his best to push him off, when he did this a sharp pain immediately forced him to stop. So in defeat he let them fall back to his side, enduring the nearly equal pain that came from Lan diving into his lap.

"I was sooo worried about you!" He cried, burring his head into Enzan's stomach. He was so happy that he almost didn't hear Enzan's cries for him to move. Lan finally let go, and with little leverage besides Enzan he started sliding on to the pillow underneath Enzan. "This is really comfortable." Lan joked.

With a sharp roll of his eyes Enzan decided to give another try at pushing him away. "...Ow." The pain that came made him think twice about it, with a sigh and an annoyed groan he gave up again.

By then Lan was just saying there to taunt him, he looked up at him with a sheepish grin, tears fading. "Heh Heh."

"What happened to me?" Enzan asked.

Lan lifted his head out of Enzan's lap and looked up at him questioningly, pausing to rub his cheeks. "You don't remember?" Enzan only shook his head. "What _do_ you remember?"

Enzan's eyes averted toward the ceiling with thought. "Well…I remember that we came out of the holding rooms….and the capsules in the next room were starting to catch on fire. After we left that room... I don't remember anything really." Just a blur and the scares that remained.

"Those capsules exploded and everything blew up. You pushed me out of the way and protected me but... you got knocked out." Lan shifted his eyes away, looking a bit calmer... "So I tried to carry you to the emergency exit, we almost made it too…"

Enzan looked at for a second, at first trying a second time to remember any of this. Still he only drew a blank. "What do you mean we _almost_ made it?"

"Well, those capsules were blowing up, and fire was coming at me from behind. It was actually good luck that it happened because there was no way I could have out run the fire with you on my back." Lan rubbed his head again with an embarrassed smile. "I wasn't strong enough."

"What happened?"

"The floor collapsed, that's how I got this." Lan pointed to the bandage around his head , Enzan didn't seem to notice it before. "And how you got _that_." Lan tapped the front of to Enzan's chest just beside his chest.

Enzan nodded in understanding, unusually attentive. "So, what happened next?"

"I (with you I mean,) climbed up out of the hole-"

"You did that with me on your back?"

"Yeah."

"But I thought you weren't strong enough?"

"I didn't know I could do it, must have been adrenalin or something. But I couldn't go all the way up, because when I got to the top…almost half of the island fell off, it was insane."

Enzan just felt his headache double."What do you mean _fell off_?"

"It blew up and fell in to the water. I had to swim up the hole, but I was getting pressed down by the ceiling. I was lucky my dad and Megaman found me, they pulled us out….and I kinda blacked out after that."

Enzan sat silently for a moment, and though he'd just heard his island was now only half or possibly fully sunk, his mind could only think of one thing. "You saved me?"

"Well, you saved me really. If you hadn't had covered me from that explosion…Thank you." Lan told him gratefully.

"No." Enzan denied. "I wouldn't have made it if you hadn't have saved me. Thank _you_ Lan."

Lan had never heard Enzan sound so oddly nice, let alone thank him for something. "Uh? Are you alright?" Lan asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

Enzan looked away with a sharp snort. "That's a stupid question."

That was all the answer he need."Yeah, your fine."

"Would you mind moving now?"

Lan had just remembered he was laying next to Enzan, by then he completely forgot why. "Oh, Sorry." Lan obediently lifted himself off the bed, returning to the chair beside his bed.

"So what exactly is wrong with me?" Enzan asked.

"Can't you tell? What hurts?" Lan was surprisingly blunt.

"_Everything_ hurts." Enzan shot back.

"Then your in the right place."

! - ! - !

"How are you doing?"

Megaman was plugged in to his old PET where Zero was currently residing, it wasn't like he had any other place to go. After the Virus had been destroyed, the link between them inanely started deleting his data along with it's. Luckily it wasn't doing it all at once so there was time to save himself, with a big part of his data missing, he's body had no choice but to mutate, for the second time. He didn't change in appearance but his data had changed in some way.

Basically, the initial program that was the '201102' virus completed itself. At first it was just changed data one in to meaningless code that the computer couldn't understand so it all became 0, now it could change data back, if the right zero divide network software was installed, putting an end to the '201102' virus.

Zero had effectively severed his ties with the virus and saved himself from deletion. Which of course made him weak while his data recovered, it did it on it's own. It proved that he still was a virus since data around him was infected, changed and complied to reform the lost parts of himself. For the first few days he couldn't even move.

"I can move again, that's good." Zero said contently, it was the first time he was awake long enough to be coherent in 5 days.

"So does all of this mean your not a virus not anymore?" Megaman asked. He sat down next to Zero, crossing his legs and folding his arms comfortably.

Zero laid on his back and continued to stare up at the ceiling, just because he could move didn't mean it was easy. "I...I don't know, I can still do all of the things from before, but I don't think a can undo it." Zero didn't sound happy about it, becoming quiet at the thought.

_! - ! - !_

'_I wonder…What would have happened if I had stayed…What if this had worked…I would have liked to meet him…I guess, it just wasn't meant to be… It doesn't matter, I didn't know who I was, how could I do anything in the future…Nah… I didn't matter…Well…I guess this is it… Well Lan, thank you…and good luck. I did what I could, I hope it's enough.'_

_! - ! - !_

"I guess I'll get to find out now…" Zero said to himself, smiling inwardly.

"What?"

"Nothing."

! - ! - !

"How long have you been here? Enzan finally asked, they had been sitting in silence for a while now, Enzan had been thinking while Lan waited. Though he didn't know why anymore.

Lan lifted his hand to his chin and thought about it, he really hadn't been keeping track. "Well, the whole time." Lan said with a nod to be sure of himself.

"What? You've been here for 5 days?" Enzan couldn't believe that Lan worried that much about him.

"Yeah, you saved me remember? It was the lest I could do."

"But you where the one that… …" Enzan's voice trailed off, it was no use, Lan had stayed because he wanted to. Not because he felt obligated to do so, Enzan could help but be grateful to him for that, forcing his mind not to try and justify any other meaning to it.

Lan noticed that Enzan was looking at him."What?"

"Nothing."

Lan sat back in the chair, letting out a relieved sigh, now that he was sure Enzan was alright he was finally able to relax. Now that he did, realized that he was still really tired. The boy let out a small yawn, folding his arms across his chest, lowering his head and slowly drifting to sleep.

"If your tired, you should go home." Enzan said, placing his hands behind his head lazily as he sat back.

"Huh? Oh, are you sure?" Lan usually would have stayed, but he hadn't got much sleep lately. His mind was saying no, but his body disagreed, and it was generally more persuasive.

"Yeah, go home." To anyone else they way he said that would have sounded cold, it would have only served to make Lan laugh if he wasn't so tired. "Lan?"

Lan decided to take a different position, resting his head on the side of the bed. "Never mind, I'll just stay here."

"Don't you want to get some rest?"

"Too tired to move."

Enzan only shook his head. "Whatever."

Lan opened one eye and looked at him curiously, finally he dismissed it and closed his eyes.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Another hour had passed of unsuccessful attempts to fall asleep, Enzan had just given up. The headache was now down to a tolerable level do to some manner of pain killers. He'd been in this bed for 5 days and he felt like it, he would have settled just to walk around for a little while.

He couldn't though, he felt like every bone in his body had been broken, he wasn't sure if they had been or not but walking was not a task he was up to right now. The pain wasn't his main focus though, he had something in the back of his mind that was slowly making it's way to the front.

At first it was not being able to remember the explosion, Enzan struggled to bring up that memory. The best he got was only bits in piece of it, mostly strong feelings he had felt at the time with images that came and faded so quick that he couldn't even remember he'd remembered them at all. He did, however, remember being worried and more anxious then he'd ever been in his life, and that was about it. Thinking about it now, he really couldn't believe that he had protected Lan.

Now it was starting to come back to him, he couldn't remember it clearly, but clear enough. The first thing that he noticed was there were a few other ways he could have done it. All of which would have resulted in both of them sustaining reasonable damage. Sure it would have hurt like hell for both of them, but neither one of them would have been unconscious.

Enzan wasn't one to panic in a situation, he could have easily thought of something else to do quickly. But why didn't he? It was like something was clouding his thought. Why did he sacrifice himself to save Lan from harm? That was the new question in his head that wouldn't allow him to fall asleep. Not that answer was really that hard to figure out. 'Because he's my...' At first he was reluctant to even think it, but he admitted it. 'He's my friend, I wanted to save him.'

He quickly shook his head after words, that wasn't it. It didn't even sound like him.

'I'm so tired...' Enzan's eyes drifted away from the window, slowly surveying the room until they came to Lan. His head was wrapped lightly in his arms, he seemed to be having a good dream because he was smiling. When he found himself subconsciously admitting that Lan looked cute while was asleep.

That's when the thought came to him, it wasn't anything he didn't already know, he liked Lan. He wasn't sure how much though.

It wasn't at all a surprise to him to him, he had always enjoyed Lan's company on some level even when he was in the worst of moods. Even when they were fighting, no, _especially_ when they were competing. But that would merit a friend at most, how had that that change to attraction?

'Strange...' Enzan sighed, now that he got the second question out of the way, it only seemed to bring up another question. This one couldn't possibly leave any other questions behind it, that meant only one inquisition stood between him and sleep. Sleep! Blissful sleep.

He'd better get thinking.

Only after a few moment he realized... 'This one's harder then the other 2.' Enzan's gaze was steady on Lan now, the careless look before had changed to one of concentration. That change could have happened anytime, and there was no way he could have determined that. Or at lest that's what he told himself, and his mind seemed satisfied with his answer.

'God, Finally.' Enzan closed his eyes and contently found himself drifting out of conciseness with a clear head. 'Damn. I think to much...'


	12. Chapter 11: Glitch

Chapter 11: Glitch

Lan slowly drifted back to consciousness, with a soft breath he opened his eyes, finding himself oddly back at him in his bed, laying on a sleeping Megaman's chest. 'Huh?' He lifted his head just enough to allow him to rub his eyes with out disturbing Megaman, inhaling with in a small yawn. 'How... did I get here?' Lan looked over to the clock sitting across the room

10:20 am

The few seconds of the morning when awareness was at it's lowest and he couldn't quite remember anything faded. He remembered Enzan had practically forced him to go home, even though it was late.

"Hmm?" Lan looked down at himself, both of them were completely naked. He could guess what happened after that by just this sight alone, though he was still too sleepy to remember it all clearly.

Lan smiled, unable to stop himself from blushing at the thought. He slowly climbed out of the bed, the first thing that came to his mind now that he was standing and growing more awake by the second was to find clothing before he did anything else. Just in case. Lan passed by the window, stopping to look outside. The gray clouds had cleared away and the rain had dried, leaving only sun and warm weather.

He was home, it was a perfect day outside, everything seemed to be in place... so what was he forgetting?

'Hey, where's Zero?' Lan thought, before doing anything else he crossed the room over to his desk where his PET was mounted on it's stand. He could see it clearly showing the streaming '201102' as it always did when Zero had left the console. He didn't think too much of it though, where ever Zero was he was probably fine. Where was he anyway?

A low, almost inaudible sound of stirring sound came from the bed as Megaman finally noticed Lan was gone and finally started to wake up. A few seconds later he placed his hands behind him and sat up, with a small shake of his head he opened his eyes, "Good morning Lan." He greeted sleepily, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Good morning Megaman….uh where's Zero?" Lan asked, he returned to his previous task of finding clothing

Megaman tilted his head upward towards the ceiling, a thoughtful expression coming to his sleepy face."Hmm... He told me he had to see someone…I should have asked but I was half sleep, sorry...I still don't know what he meant."

Lan didn't think about it to much, maybe it was because he'd just waken up, what could happen to a virus that powerful?

Lan slipped a shirt on to his back that he found in his drawers, that same dark blue one that his father had given him some odd months ago that he was suppose to grow into. The dark blue cloth came down to just above his knees and hung off of him baggily and lose, making him appear even smaller then he already was. He was amazed at how this could be too small for Megaman.

Lan pulled on a pair of white boxers that sat underneath them in the drawer and deemed it was significant out of some manner of laziness or sleepiness. With tired steps he trudged across the hardwood floor and sat down on the bed, his legs hung over the other side, dangling lifelessly as he laid backwards and settled his head in to Megaman's lap. "Megaman?" he shifted his eyes upward, looking at Megaman. "Are you ok?"

Megaman closed his eyes and smiled back down at him. "Yeah, just in a good mood I guess." He ran his fingers through Lan's hair, gently brushing his hand across the boy's cheek. "What about you, I've barely seen you this week."

"I'm ok..." At lest now he was.

! - ! - !

It was an half hour later when Lan, fully dressed, came down the stairs with Megaman following behind as always. Leaving his body suit behind, Tadashi had found something suitable that could fit Megaman the day before and he was now wearing a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt, he seemed content with himself. Lan ,however, looked more like the walking dead, he nearly fell twice on his way down. Megaman couldn't help but notice this. "Lan? Maybe you should go back to bed."

Lan only passively shook his head. "No, I'm alright." Despite his wanting to fall back asleep, and how tempting it sounded, Lan was really trying to get out side before-

"Netto."

He flinched when he heard Tadashi call him, by the time either of them noticed the older man he was standing right behind them both. Megaman was certainty surprised."Yes Dad?" Lan expected him to be mad now that he knew the truth about, well, everything. And the fact that he didn't come back up to safety when had the chance and ended up getting hurt as his father instructed, he definitely lost points there. His head was still _very _soar because of it, it seemed to hurt even more when he started to think. Odd.

Tadashi only rubbed Lan's head lightly and walked past. "Don't over do it today, we don't want you passing out like last night."

'I passed out? That's why I don't remember how I got here. So that's why Enzan kept trying to make me go home.' Lan thought to himself, that explained why things were so fuzzy.

"Alright." Lan rubbed his head nervously, he didn't know why his father was letting him off easy for a second time but he would go with it. "I'll try." Lan reassured him, then moving quickly before what seemed like his father's concern wore off, that or he'd follow up with something less pleasant.

"Hey! Now I remember, Zero went to see Enzan and Blues." Megaman called out spontaneously, there was definitely something different about him today.

He was so loud and sudden that Lan jumped at the sound. "You sure your alright Megaman?" Lan asked curiously.

Megaman nodded. "Fine."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Lan reached the hospital in record time, going strait to Enzan's room as he usually did.

Lan pushed the door open just far enough for his head to fit through and he looked around silently before entering. Just as he had hoped, Enzan was wide awake. "How are you doing Enzan?" Lan walked in, closing the door behind Megaman before he took his usual seat beside Enzan's bed.

Enzan was sitting with his PET in hand, looking down at it with an expression that almost seemed confused.

"Hi Lan." Zero's voice called out from the device.

"Zero?" Lan leaned closer until the screen came in view. "If your in _there_, where is Blues?"

An almost aggravated, definitely annoyed Blues answered him, "I'm _still_ here." He apparently didn't like sharing a PET, with anyone.

Lan almost laughed, but that would probably make him more mad. Megaman didn't seem to care though, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, getting an angry growl from Blues. "What's so funny?"

Megaman quieted his laughter and shook his head, "I never noticed how funny you are when your mad."

"Really, why don't you come down here and see how _funny_ I can be." Blues spoke in a sarcastically friendly, yet underling a menacing tone. Noticing it immediately, Enzan quickly tried to calm him down.

"So are you alright Enzan?" Megaman finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Enzan shrugged. He leaned back on the bed with a small yawn that would have been followed by a stretch if he could lift his arms with out pain. God he was so stiff.

"I was really worried about you... it looks like your head still hurts. Every time you narrow your eyes, you start holding your head." Megaman paid closer attention to the bandages, parts of them were spotted in red.

"Hmm, glad to see your working fine." Enzan replied half attentively, shifting his eyes back down at his PET.

Blues seemed to be tolerating Zero's presence, he stopped trying to _physically_ force him out, that was good. Enzan had to admit, it was actually funny to watch the two…co-exist… It was the only entertaining thing he'd seen since he woke up, the only thing that seemed to ease the crushing boredom, he could get use to it. 'Heh heh...'

"Huh..." When he looked up again, he found Megaman rubbing Lan's head. Who didn't seem to notice the oddity of it, but was enjoying it anyway since his head was still sore.

"Geez, you two couldn't wait until you left." Enzan said, scratching his own head subconsciously. He was a little jealous, he was the first to admit it.

Lan looked up and noticed what Megaman was doing, he was very reluctant to tell him to stop, even then he didn't sound as convincing as he should have. "Hey Megaman, maybe you should stop."

Megaman only smiled... then after a few seconds his hands froze and a blank expression came on to his face, as if he'd forgotten what he was doing. "?..." Then he only shook his head and smiled again.

"Megaman, are you alright?" Lan asked for the third time, Megaman only gave the same nod he gave before, looking as if nothing had changed. "I'm...not so sure anymore."

"Does he usually act like this?" Enzan asked, he had to admit that Megaman was acting rather strangely. If he had to guess, then the physical problems that plagued him were still there, not to mention what ever was off about Megaman at the moment.

Lan shook his head "No. It just started this past week."

"Thought so." Enzan had had time to think about it sometime between yesterday and today. "Megaman was infected with the virus right? Looks like the it's starting to mess with his programming." That was the cause of just about all of Megaman's problems, the inability to use all of his physical strength, the disorientation under stress. Turns out his physical processing units seemed to only be the start, it was effecting his mind also. "That's why he's acting differently." Enzan said with a nod, completely sure of himself.

"But... If that's it..." Lan looked back at Megaman who only shrugged in response "Then why did start acting...off, now? Why not at first?"

Maybe an explanation he came up with yesterday didn't quite cover all of what he'd learned today. "Hmm...Somthing must have triggered it, this is probably just a reaction to something."

"But what?"

"Well..." Enzan took a quick glance at Megaman, then shifted his eyes down at his PET where Zero and Blues currently resided. "He is infected with a virus right? And didn't you guys delete the exact same virus that infected my network? Maybe that had something to do with it." After that he just gave up, that answer was good enough for him, and this wasn't a subject he felt much like discussing at the moment considering Megaman was hanging over Lan. Yup, he was jealous.

"Is there any way to fix it?" Lan asked.

"Don't worry about it, the problem is probably gonna fix itself, his getting better physically, he'll get better mentally."

"How long will it take?"

"How the hell should I know, could be in the next minute, could be a few weeks from now." Enzan closed his eyes and shifted his head in the pillow. "Damnit, what the hell kinda pain killers are these, there not doing anything." He grunted with a yawn obstructing his speech. What ever he'd been given didn't do much for the pain, but it was sure making him sleepy. It made him wonder, since he hadn't slept since he woke up the day before, maybe somebody thought it was a good idea to _make_ him go to sleep. 'Hn, they probably drugged me.'

Lan leaned back in his chair and watched as Enzan started to lose consciousness, thinking about him, as well as Megaman.

That glitch was probably why Megaman couldn't keep his hands off of Lan, in fact Megaman was rubbing Lan's head right now. "Megaman?" Lan sunk down in his chair, he couldn't measure how good that felt , if only he could do something about the iching... 'I'll just let him stay there for a while, what's the harm?"

The glitch wasn't effecting much else, it just made him giddy among other things.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The problem clearly hadn't fixed itself yet, and it was around 1:30 in the morning. Time really did fly quickly today.

Usually Lan being out this late would have been a problem, but he had called his father to avoid any... surprises when he got home. The last thing he needed was for his father, or even worse his mother, to see Megaman like _this_. He was practically hanging over Lan, he couldn't help himself, which may not have been such a bad thing from Lan's perspective.

Lan opened the door as quietly as possible, peeking his head in first and checking to see if anyone was on the other side so that he had a clear warning. No one was anywhere to be found, the place was completely empty. With a sigh of relief, Lan walked inside and closed the door much more loudly then he intended behind Megaman. He wasn't too worried though since if his parents were asleep he knew no one would wake up, once his father was asleep, he would be out for at lest 5 hours. And he never really had to worry about his mother.

"Aren't you tired?" Lan placed his hands on Megaman's shoulders and forcibly pushed him down, promoting him to stay put while he went to the kitchen.

"No way….well maybe…" A small grin appearing on his face despite his best efforts to contain himself.

After a quick double check to make sure his father wasn't somewhere waiting for him Lan dragged himself back in to the living room with lazy steps. He tiredly fell on to the couch next to Megaman with a long exhale, laying his head on Megaman's shoulder and closing his eyes. As he expected, he felt Megaman kiss him soon after, burring a hand in his hair as he had before and slowly moving in massage like patterns. "Ah..." It felt amazing, especially since even his hair seemed to hurt.

Lan felt himself drifting downward, before he knew it he was laying down completely on his back with Megaman on top of him. Megaman's hands still going through Lan's hair as if he was petting an animal. "Mega..." Lan shook his head, though showing some reluctance in his denial. "We can't do this here…"

Megaman only smiled in that same way and kissed him again, his fingers ran swift circles with feather soft touches across the sensitive skin. Lan relaxed beneath the administration, he couldn't believe how good Megaman was at this. "We...can't..."

His, at best, unconvincing protest seemed to go unheard, Megaman only sat up for a second to remove his shirt before leaning down to press his mouth to Lan's neck. Moving one hand back in to Lan's hair with the same massaging motions while and the other pressed against Lan's chest. "Don't say that..."

A soft moan made it's way through the increasing panting, dispite his fleeting will Lan still managed to shake his head. "We... not here..."

Megaman's hand trailed down Lan's chest, feeling the soft skin beneath the barrier of fabric imposed by his shirt. Soft kisses trailed up Lan's neck, soft, warm and wet moved along his jaw line, gentle, teasing nibbles and licks played along his ear. "Please..." Megaman whispered, in an almost innocent voice like a needy child.

He couldn't resist, Lan never was one for self control. After much internal debate Lan wrapped his arms around Megaman's neck in a light embrace, finally giving in. He'd just have to making sure to remind himself not fall a sleep here.

"Heh Heh." Megaman slipped his hand downward between them and unbuttoned Lan's shorts, then pulling down them and his boxers to the boy's knees in one swift tug. Quickly afterworlds he felt the soft erection pressing against his stomach with increasing hardness, Lan's cheeks became flushed with a small embarrassment that still came on even now.

The friction of Megaman's shifting body rubbing against his cock and the slow massage going through his hair drew another soft moan from Lan. He closed his eyes, enjoying the unified feelings that washed over him, all of it amplified by the warm, teasing, kisses planted on him by Megaman. It was working an overly anxious and highly sensitive Lan squirmed beneath the larger body, "Ah...uha..." His eyes clinched and he thrust upward against the toned muscles of Megaman's abdomen, trying to use the friction.

Megaman pressed his body against Lan's to pin the squirming boy down. "Lan..."He cooed lightly, nibbling the earlobe with gentle bites and licks. His free hand that had been holding him up slipped between them, taking a hold of the boy's length with a firm grip and stroking the head with his thumb.

Lan only began to squirm more at this, his hand gripped the edge of the couch while his other arm wrapped around Megaman's waist. "Uha..."

"That's it..." Megaman ran his tongue along Lan's cheek, stopping just beneath his chin with more delicate kisses. His fingers swirled almost disorderly around Lan's now tangled, brushing against the sides of the bandages wrapped around the boy's hair where he seemed to be the most sensitive, and sore. "Do you feel anxious yet..."

"What do you mean...Mega…." Lan's words were cut back by a sharp moan, for Megaman to be half malfunction he sure knew what he was doing, aside from the occasional sentence that didn't make sense.

The hand that held his remember took a long, quick stokes, lined with light presses of Megaman fingers at the right time in the right places. When he felt that intense on rush of the sensation that was much stronger then the teasing Megaman was giving him before it, his mind seem to shut off. Focusing on nothing but the pleasure he felt coming in waves from his lower body. Everything faded away, everybody else and everything that came in the last few days, just this moment, this feeling, this person….all except for Zero. That was the only thing that he never could forget when he was with Megaman.

They were so alike, when being with one, it was like being with the other, but different enough to have a completely different experience, two sides of the same coin. And when with both, it seemed as they both became more then there selves. Megaman and Zero were like two halves to a whole, and they most definitely felt that connection when they were together.

"!" Any thought Lan had was forced out of his mind with the sharp rush of an even more intense sensation. His arm tightened it's embrace of Megaman's waist, his fingers dug into Megaman's back, pressing hard enough against the soft flash to feel the contrastingly hard muscle and machine underneath. "Mega-Megaman!" Before he could get any louder then he already was, Megaman sealed their lips together in a kiss.

Lan's muffle cry vibrated Megaman's cheeks lightly and the smaller cock overflowed and spilled cum over his hands until it dripped down his fingers onto Lan's chest. The shorting, slowing strokes forced out the last spurt of his seed before Megaman pulled away, leaving Lan panting for breath with a racing heart.

These kinds of things easily seemed to overwhelm Lan. Megaman took pride and interest in how a kiss could leave Lan starved for air since he often became to engrossed with in it to breath. How the softest of touches could leave him completely flushed and blushing, and continuing those touches could cause Lan's impulses to take over, which they often did over self control. Megaman took notice of each of those traits, and each of them just seemed to increase his adoration towards the boy.

Another welcome kiss came from Megaman before he pushed himself on to his knees above Lan, spreading some of Lan's cum on his considerably larger length with a few quick rubs. Lan placed his hands behind him and pushed himself up, holding himself just high enough to press his lips to Megaman's.

"Are you ready?" Megaman asked, halting the kiss for a few idle seconds while he spoke.

"Yeah..." Lan told him, to preoccupied with the kiss to think about anything else, like breathing.

Megaman held on to both sides of Lan's waist and pulled the smaller body towards him, Lan inhaled sharply, quickly reminded to breathe when he felt the ring muscles of his entrance stretching around Megaman's length. He winched, biting down on his lower lip until he felt himself pulled onto the hardness about halfway.

Megaman paused as he always did, giving more soft, delicate kisses while he waited for Lan to get used to the feeling. "Aright?" Megaman inquired, he gained a small nod from Lan for a response.

"Hn." Megaman wrapped one arm around Lan's back and lowered him back on to the couch, pressing their body's together again. Heat immediately built between them when Megaman pushed forward, driving his length with into Lan until he was completely inside, drawing a sharp outcry from the boy beneath him.

A sweet mixture of pleasure and pain followed as Megaman start to move faster with his trusts, the former Navi pulled the boy towards him to meet his hips in an awkwardly paced rhythm. "Lan..."

Lan let his head fall back on to the soft surface and his arms drop, clinching the tightly woven fabric around him with a burst of pint up energy that never seemed to emerge an any other way as unique as it did during sex. His breath caught itself in his throats, causing his formed words to come out as nothing more then incoherent groaning when felt the cock thrusting inside of him move faster, going deeper. Each thrust feeling better then the last, disputing the pain that seemed to make the other more pleasurable feelings that much more worthwhile.

"Mega...!" His back arched upwards with a squirm despite his best efforts to hold himself still, his body grew hotter with the start of sweat forming on his skin. His breath became shorter and harder making it impossible to gather enough air to simply speak.

He was loving every second of it.

Megaman reached down and took hold of Lan's hand, wrapping it around his own newly growing erection and moving over the sensitive flesh with quick strokes strokes. Leaving Lan to do so on his own, his hand drifted up Lan's torso with feather soft touches that felt messaging on the damp skin, running his fingers lightly over the peeked nipples. He involuntarily forced a loud moan from Lan that made the smaller body tense at it's own sound, causing the the slick warmth of of Lan's alright tight inner muscles to constrict around Megaman's cock.

Lan arched upward again, a spurt of cum streamed upward from on Megaman's chest as he came a second time from the two contrastingly unified feelings.

Everything Lan did drove Megaman closer and closer to his limit, just watching the boy's face contort in pleasure, knowing, feeling that he was the cause of it... after a few more quick, jabbing thrust into the tighten entrance, Megaman came right after Lan. Though he was much more contained, repressing nearly any sound that threaten to come forth. He could see stars behind his clinched eye lids, his mind went completely blank, leaving behind only the intense feeling of pleasure brought about by his highly tuned senses.

Both struggled to catch their breathes.

Lan wasn't sure what this glitch was, but if this would be the end result, he wanted it to stay around.


	13. Chapter 12: Lan

Chapter 12: Lan

"I never tasted food before, this is amazing!" Megaman didn't hide one bit of his happiness nor did he hide his approval as he slowly at a stack of pancakes set before.

'He seems happy...' Lan sat beside the former Navi with his head resting in his hands, simply watching Megaman. Who really, _really_ seemed to be enjoying his first taste of anything…other then Lan.

Which because of the glitch he blatantly stated out loud. "This is almost as good as you are Lan."

When Lan heard that he nearly fell out of his seat, "M-Mega..." Lan managed to grab on to the edge of the table and pull himself forward again. He looked around frantically to see if anyone had heard that last statement.

His father was in the living room reading a newspaper and didn't hear him or disregarded the comment. His mother just walked in from the kitchen, which really made Lan wonder if she had come in because of the comment. She didn't seem to hear it, completely anyway. "I did some one say something?" She asked to Lan's relief.

"I said This is-"

Lan quickly clamped his hand over Megaman's mouth with a nervous smile, cutting him off before he could divulge any farther."He said it's really, really good."

She only smiled, either thinking nothing of the strange behavior or dismissing it as play. "Oh, thank you Megaman." She folded her arms across her chest and looked over the two boys, when she saw Lan sit down she noticed he didn't have anything in front of him."Oh Lan your not hungry?"

His mother looked at him unsure if she should be worried about it or not. "Nah, maybe later though." Lan said in a lazy voice, resting his head in his hands again, his eyes fixed on Megaman.

"Alright then." She headed back in to the kitchen leaving Lan and Megaman alone.

"Are you even chewing?" Lan asked sarcastically watching Megaman's pace increase.

Megaman only gave a small nod and took a sip of milk before continuing shoveling the sliced pieces in to his mouth, he was eating enough for the both of them and Lan's mother was enjoying havening someone so enthusiastically eat and complement her cooking. "Aren't you going to eat anything Lan?"

"Nope." Lan spoke plainly with a shake of his head.

Megaman pulled himself away from the food long enough to look up at him. "Really? Why?"

"I don't feel like it, I just need to think."

"Hn... that's _really_ not like you." With a shrug, Megaman picked up his fork and kept going at the same frighteningly inhuman rate.

"Hey!" Lan jumped to his feet with an angry growl. "Your one to talk about people not like them selves." He shot back, indicating Megaman's current state.

Megaman only smiled and rubbed his head. "Heh Heh."

Lan rubbed his temple and sat back down, scratching lightly beneath the bandages wrapped around his head. Maybe this glitch wasn't such a good thing after all. "Megaman, can you possibly not say stuff like that, _in front of my parents_?"

Megaman, who was busy chewing a mouth full of pancakes, responded with something incomprehensible. But it sounded something like, "Stuff like what?"

Lan at first didn't think Megaman was serious, he had to know what Lan meant. "Like what you _just_ said."

Megaman lifted his head and swallowed loudly. "Oh, about how good you taste?"

Again, he spoke much to loudly, enough to make Lan tense and send a sharp elbow into Megaman's side. "Yeah, that!" he whispered forcefully.

"But you do." Megaman grinned impishly, with his mind thinking about one thing and his body doing another, Megaman subconscious began leaning downwards towards Lan. With a subtle quickness, Megaman wrapped his arm around Lan's shoulders and laid a soft kiss on Lan's neck. One that turned into a long, slow lick.

A sharp exhale forced it's way out of Lan's mouth from the sudden, favorable sensation that came in the wrong place, at the wrong time. "M-mega!" Despite how well Megaman knew how the right action on the right place could work, Lan tensed and pulled back resistivity. "Not _now_." he whispered harshly.

Almost as abruptly as he'd gotten the sudden urge to do what he just did, Megaman went back to eating as if he hadn't done anything at all. Strange.

Lan's eyes shifted towards the kitchen where his mother resided and then towards the living room where his father was still reading the paper undisturbed. Neither of them seemed to have noticed, more importantly his mother hadn't noticed. He could finally let out a sigh of relief and sink into his chair, more flustered then before. "Megaman..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

After breakfast, which it had been hard to pry Megaman away from with all of the food his mother had cooked, way too much. Lan went down to the hospital again as he'd done everyday with out fail for the last month.

Only today something was different.

"Hey! Where did Enzan go?" Lan peeked his head into the door, looking around the room with light confusion.

The only thing he found was Enzan's PET laying on the bed.

Zero had came back here again per his own daily ritual. He and Blues were starting to get along, meaning more specifically that Blues had a higher level of tolerance for Zero's prescience. He no longer tried to physically force the virus out, and the shouting had reduced considerably.

Why he did was anyones guess, the only thing that seemed to happen was an argument over just about anything. In fact, his very presence sparked the peak of Blue's annoyment, the root of just about every fight.

Megaman sat down on the bed and looked down at the screen curiously. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know but he said he'd be back." Zero said. Then he grinned and wrapped his arm around Blue's shoulder, much to his annoyment. "Why don't you come on in Megaman, the water's fine. Besides, you can help us settled this augment."

"Sure" Megaman nodded passively as he reached for the cord hooked into the back of his neck to plug himself in to the PET.

"Great, there's another one." Blues groaned in annoyment, he could feel a head ache coming on.

A few seconds passed by before Zero and Blues became engrossed in whatever debate they had been involved in. Enzan walked in the door at that moment, though not in the attire of a regular hospital patient everyone had gown accustomed to seeing him in. Instead he wearing a pair of black jeans and a black short sleeved shirt.

It was easily seen by the slight limp in his walk and the way his left arm hung at his side that he was still in some pain. But his desire to get out of bed outweighed the pain. Which is most likely why the casts were missing, now replaced by tightly wound bandages over his arms and legs plus a sling holding up his right.

As soon as Lan saw him he stood up, looking on with a nervous worry. 'What happen to his cast?' "Enzan, are you feeling better?" Lan asked hopefully.

Enzan paused for a moment, taking slow steps toward his bed and sitting down before he shook his head and replied."No not really." He said plainly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

How could he talk about his injuries like it wasn't anything at all. "If you don't feel alright then you really shouldn't be out of bed." Lan said concernedly, with a bit of firmness.

Enzan laid back, letting his legs hang over the side of the bed weakly. He couldn't help but laugh when he heard Lan. "Heh, you sound like your mother."

"No way!" Lan shouted in opposition. "What happened to your casts and stuff, there's no way you could have healed already, dose it still hurt?"

"Now you really sound like your mother." Enzan turned his head to his side and looked at his PET, then at Megaman dormant beside him. Seeing that Blues and Zero were alright, after having the unexplained need to check up on them, he grabbed on to the edge of the bed and pulled himself up. The process was noticeably slow with a lot of strain, Enzan cringed the whole way through it from the pain that came from using his limbs not yet ready to be exerted.

His stance was shaky and his steps were uneven at first, but they smoothened out as he headed for the door. Enzan seemed determined not to let his muscles get too weak , even if it meant the possibly of causing himself farther pain and injury by overusing not fully healed extremities.

"Hey Enzan we're are you going?" Lan didn't hesitate in running after him, he really didn't want to see him up and around if he was still in pain, which he obviously was.

"Nowhere in particular." He said in his usual, disregarding way. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked into the cluttered hallways of the hospital, bustling with activities. He paused and looked back, his expression betraying no bit of his boredom or typical indifference. "Wanna come?" Enzan offered, looking back from the door way.

Lan looked back at Megaman, who would be fine by himself, and then at Enzan. "Yeah sure." he agreed. What else could he do, he didn't want something to happen to Enzan. Besides, how often did Enzan offer to do anything with him.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Mainly they just talked, drifting around the hospital with a child like curiosity to explore a new place. There was no shortage of places to go in a 14 story building connected to 3 more branches of the building and a parking garage. Enzan found looking around by himself by far was a lot less satisfying as doing it with someone else, he knew, he'd been doing so alone since earlier this morning. Doing this simple task alone did nothing for him, but along with someone else it was enough to quell the pint up boredom within Enzan, even bring a certain aspect of enjoyment.

It was why he hung around his room waiting for Lan to show up. It like a routine that happened without fail, Zero would show up in Blue's PET and then sometime latter Lan would come and stay until Enzan could force him to go him sometime late at night. Megaman was either with Lan or with Tadashi, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with his body.

Enzan's room was on floor 13, at the moment they were on floor 9. "Where did you go?" Lan asked. He walked behind Enzan with a matched pace, walking through the sea of people going about their day. Many of them were in blue scrubs with Id's, others wearing similar attire and long lab coats, some wearing casual clothing. It was almost hard to tell who worked there and who didn't.

The two of them came to an area in the far east corner of the level, where the hustle of people lessened to few to none.

"What do you mean?" Enzan looked around the carpeted floors and oak furnish walls of the waiting room, completely empty besides them, he could even hear a light echo to his voice. He still didn't know what this floor was used for, what it's purpose was despite trying to figure it out by exploring. The 13th level was recovery, this could have been recovery too?

Enzan sat down in a chair, facing the wall lined with long windows that over looked the city. Lan stood behind him and looked off at the view with light admiration, he never realized how high up he was. "When I came to your room you were gone, where did you go?"

"Oh that?" Enzan looked up at him, a small hint of questioning coming into his indifferent expression."Want me to show you?"

"Sure." Lan nodded, something about being in a place this large gave him the urge to explore. There was all ways something new, a painting, a nice view from a window, some intricately designed structure donated to liven the place up. Or the many fountains in different places on different floors, each one different, making it clear that they spared no expense to make this place presentable.

With his hands planted firmly on the arm rest, Enzan began pushing himself up to his feet.

'Enzan...' Seeing that he was obviously struggling, Lan wrapped his arms around Enzan's waist, not wanting to irritate his injured arms by grabbing them, and pulled him up.

Though he seemed annoyed by the action, Enzan mumbled a small thanks and began walking off, he seemed more annoyed that he needed help than the fact that Lan actually helped him in such a manner.

He was silent as he walked out of the room, his hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes averted towards the ceiling while the two of them crossed the hall to elevator. Steeping inside he pressing the very last button 'b1'

A more comfortable silence followed while they were inside the small space, leaving nothing to listen to but the elevator music. Which Enzan really hated listening too, a complaint that he voiced, "I hate this music, move faster Damnit!" Enzan pressed the button repeatedly, knowing it wouldn't do anything but empathize his point.

Lan just laughed in amusement.

The doors rolled open to the basement a moment later much to Enzan's approval. They were greeted with the sight of white tiled floors with white walls and ceilings, illuminated by long florescent lights. It wasn't one room, just tunnels similar to hallways only visibly rounded. Doors embedded in the tunnels lead to different rooms.

Two path's lay forked in front of them, one to the left and the next to the right, both of them branched off in to more tunnels. "This place is like a maze." Lan sighed, knowing he didn't have the memory for an endeavor too deep into this place.

"Exactly." Enzan said with a small smirk forming, so many choices to occupy time with, this place was perfect for boredom. Which is what Enzan had been thinking when he came down here the first time. Lan looked over his surroundings, trying to make sure he remembered which ways he'd went as he Enzan led him down the right path, passing a few extending hallways on the way. "Are we supposed to be down here?" Lan asked, though he really didn't care about the answer.

"How the hell should I know?" Enzan shrugged and turned down one of the outlaying halls, each one was the same but somehow different from the last, though all of them confusing to Lan. This particular one had one door at the end of it, leading to a pitch black room. "Hold on."Enzan went forward in to the darkness, leaving Lan behind as he trudged through the room blindly until he found a light switch.

With a small click the buzz of illuminating florescent lights reviled a room full of equipment. "This is were you were?" Lan sounded almost disappoint when he saw the place, there was nothing here but extra equipment for the hospital. IVs, Deliberators, monitors, crash carts, things of that nature in storage.

"Your always so impatient" Enzan sounded amused as he walked with slower steps, holding on to a shelf as he went along to steady himself. "There's a door here." He said plainly, making sure to take notice of the things he didn't his first time going through.

Lan still sounded disappointed but despite that he seemed pretty content just to get a close look at the machinery. Lan observed the equipment while Enzan crouched down on a spot in the far right corner of the mid sized room. Wincing in pain as he struggled to hold himself in the position with weak and injured muscles, faintly visible here was the outline of a hatch with a small square hole engraved in the ground.

Enzan stuck his hand in the hole and lifted up the hatch with a small grunt, reviling a dark stairway heading farther underground that lay below. "Lan, this is it."

Lan pulled himself away from the interesting equipment stored down here, musing on how it was like a museum in this room because some of the things here were two times older then he was. He peeked over Enzan's shoulder, visible impressment showing on his face. "How did you find something like this, It's practically invisible." Lan asked, looking down the dark stairway, barley visible by the light in this room he could see a door at the very bottom. Not exactly an inviting passage but he could see why Enzan would have been curious.

"So what's down here?" Lan asked, he was a little bit reluctant about proceeding, found himself following Enzan closer then he expected himself to.

Of course Enzan could easily tell Lan was a bit afraid, why not, heading into a dark and creepy, not to mention really narrow pathway that could have had any number of things wrong with it. "You'll see." Enzan took hold of the handle and pulled at the door, after a few hard tugs he found it was much harder to open then last time. Though it was difficult to see from here, the door was thickly reinforced, about 6 inches thick with steel.

Enzan released of the handle, clasping his left arm with a small wince, doing it once with an injured body was enough of a strain.

Lan saw this and attempted to pull the door open himself, it was heaver then he expected, no wonder Enzan couldn't open it. "Man, this thing is heavy!" It scraped against the ground as it was drawn back until finally Lan had it open just enough for the two of them to slip through. 'Good Enough.'

Once inside the pitch black room, Enzan quickly reached of the light switch, illuminating the room.

They were standing in a small foyer connecting the door to a closet and the main room. The closet was open and filled with old medical supplies and containers labeled written with some incomprehensible doctor script, on the side were 2 bottles of champagne.

The main room inside was furnished with a king-sized bed, a hard wood cabinet propped against the wall next to it, a mirror hanging over a small refrigerator that sat beneath it. A counter with cabins and a sink in the center lined the wall opposite of the bed in an area that looked to be a small kitchen.

A _very_ old CD/tape player lay against the remaining wall, it was stacked with old CD's and tapes. Above it was an old TV with Plasma engraved in small letters above a row of buttons. It was connected by wires to a combination Video Tape/DVD player that was sitting on the ground, also stacked with Videos and DVDs.

"Whoa! Look at all this old stuff." Lan ran over to the old devices, looking through them with an interest for some type of date. This place was like a museum. He was surprised this room was so neat and clean because it was apparently old. Which brought up a question, "Enzan, why is the door so thick, what is this room?"

"From what I've read, this room was a shelter of some sort when it was first built. It was here before the hospital was." Enzan explained, this room was air and water tight, but it didn't use air tanks or things like that. It had a large carbon monoxide filter that eliminated the need for them as long as something that breathed was inside. There was also a generator behind the closet wall so it had an independent power supply.

"Where did you read that?"

Enzan went in to the closet, digging around for a few seconds and returning with 2 books from the top shelf. "These." One book opened up to a map of the old landscape, and the other was a journal of whoever moved all of this stuff in.

"All of this stuff, I wonder how old it is." The first thing Lan wanted to do was listen to the old music, it was child like curiosity that made him interested in something he'd never seen before, interest in how they worked, what they were. Though he wasn't sure which set of disk went in to what.

"Not that one, that one."

"This one?"

"The other one." Enzan pointed out which were the Cds and what was the CD player.

Lan randomly picked one out, happily surprised that it still worked, and pressed play. After a few seconds had passed,. sound radiated out of the TV and two large speakers next to it.

Only interested in watching Lan, Enzan relieved himself of the strain of standing and laid back on the bed. Taking notice of the steel walls, the lack of dust in the room, and how this felt much immeasurably better then the hospital bed upstairs. Something possibly more then a century old felt better then the considerably newer hospital beds, that didn't speak well for the hospital.

Content to just listen to what was playing he left the other rather interesting devices scattered around alone, Lan instead opted to sit down on the bed, laying next to Enzan and resting his hands comfortably behind his head. '...This feels really good.' It was the most comfortable bed he'd ever been on, whatever they used in the past, they needed to use now. "Man this bed is comfortable. If I had one of these at home then I'd never get out of it."

Enzan looked over to Lan who had his eyes closed and resting contently beside him. "So what do you think?" He asked cursorily.

"I can't believe you found this!" Lan replied with excitement. "This place his so amazing, it's even better because it's old."

Something about laying on a bed this comfortable 'This thing is so soft...'... with someone like Enzan and listening to music 'What is this I'm listening to anyway? How old is this?...It sounds really old.' ... made Lan sleepy. If he didn't get up now then he didn't think he would be able to leave this bed at all.

Enzan on the other hand found the prospect of him and Lan being in the same bed…really tempting. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep, this situation was a true test of his self control.

"Enzan…" Lan looked over at him for a second, pausing with thought before he looked up at the ceiling. Metal tiles with steel tresses arching across it for support. "Do you like your life."

The question surprised him, so much so that he didn't respond immediately since he halted mid way through what he saying, Enzan realized that before, and just as he was about to do, he would have given any answer just to avoid the question. But... he found he couldn't do that with Lan anymore... 'Where did this come from?'

Enzan sighed, making Lan open his eyes again and looked towards him, a sigh was not what he expected to hear. "I don't know, I like it sometimes, other times it just pisses me off." Enzan snorted in his usual indifferent tone.

"You must be pretty lonely eh?" Lan asked. Sounding generally concerned.

Enzan shook his head. "No time to be lonely. Too busy." Unfortunately his answer wasn't convincing Lan, he wasn't even convincing himself. Saying that sounded stupid even to himself.

He sighed again after a moment watching Lan just looked at him expectantly, it was apparent that he wasn't going to let this go.

"Ok maybe a little." Enzan said, but Lan only continued to give him that look, he still wasn't buying it. "Alright I'm lonely!" Enzan found himself confessing things he didn't even know about himself, or just ignored. Now that he thought about it, he really was lonely. He never had a type of relationship with anyone that could make him feel like he wasn't alone. And all this time he thought he was just mad, well he was pretty angry about his life, _now_. "I'm lonely, Happy now?"

Every high moment meant nothing if he didn't have someone to share it with or at lest someone he could tell about it to, if he wasn't doing that he would just be arrogant…which explained a few things. He had been an jerk and didn't even know it, all because he was lonely and completely ignored the fact that he was. This was amazing thing to figure out at once, it was enough to make him want to keep thinking, see what else he could figure out about himself. 'Hmm...'

"Enzan? Are you alright?" Lan asked, watching the expression on his face become more serous.

Enzan was too busy thinking to answer right away, he just stared up in silence. Sure he was lonely, he got that now, but he wasn't always lonely. He wasn't lonely when he was with family, like his father... ok, yes he was. Well he wasn't when he was with Blues...no, he was still even then... He wasn't lonely now. Come to think of it, Lan was the only person who he didn't feel like he was alone with. Lan was the only person who persistently came to see him, sure everyone had stopped by at lest once, Yaito twice. But Lan was constantly here until he was forced to leave, not even his father had showed up to check up on him. Speaking of which, where was his father anyway... Enzan supposed it didn't matter right now.

Things were always interesting when Lan was involved, another reason why he liked Lan so much. Lan thought differently, Lan felt differently, Lan was the complete opposite of him, the source of countless confliction between them. Another reason he liked Lan so much. And Lan didn't think as much about things, as he was doing at the moment. 'Maybe I do think to much.'

"Enzan..." Lan placed his hands behind him and sat up, looking at him fully with evident concern. "Hmmm...Lan… I'm sorry."

"Huh? For what?"

"For being such jerk to you."

Now Lan was confused, he asked a simple question and this came out. He really was starting to feel sorry for Enzan now, more worried then anything. "Your kinda late, you stopped being such a jerk a while ago."

He didn't realize he had been one in the first place, when did he stop being one? This just happened to be the one thing Enzan was oblivious to. "I like you Lan, you were the only person that didn't make me feel alone." He sounded as if he was just thinking aloud, like he was talking to himself and Lan wasn't even there. "That's why I like being around you so much."

Enzan spoke so surely in his usual confident voice that Lan's mind hadn't really caught on to what Enzan said, maybe he was thinking out loud because something in what he was saying sounded incomplete. "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't think I could tolerate my life any longer without you." Enzan sighed exasperatedly, now that the topic had been brought up he liked his life a little less then he thought he did. And Lan hadn't immediately rejected the fact that he liked him, either he was teasing him or thought nothing of it... Infact Lan hadn't said anything about it, at all? Why was that? Did he even hear it? ...The thought was slowly but surely driving him crazy with curiosity. "Lan?"

"Huh?"

"Your not going to say anything?"

"Say anything about what?"

Enzan stared at him, maybe Lan was teasing him, or he didn't think anything of it, he had to hear it, right? "Baka, you really have to learn to pay attention." Enzan rolled over and climbed on to his knees directly above Lan, one hand planted above the boy's shoulder for support as he lifted Lan's chin with the other and quickly pressed their lips together, if Lan was teasing him he was getting what he deserved.

Ok...maybe Lan hadn't been teasing him. 'Huh?' He was surprised to find that Lan was kissing him back… but he was obviously unsure of what he was doing and confused by his slow almost scared movements, Enzan could see it in his eyes. Which were still open and wouldn't have been so wide with surprise if Lan knew what he was doing or even what was going on. Enzan had enough time to comprehend it all before Lan pulled back after a few seconds and pushed Enzan away, "Enzan? Y-you, I-I...W-we, What was that?"

"A kiss Lan." Enzan said with a matter-of-factly tone.

A blush spread across Lan's cheek as he stared up at Enzan with unwavering confusion."W-Why?"

Enzan smirked inwardly as he gave Lan another soft, chasing kiss. He saw this as a golden opportunity. "Because I like you Lan, I thought you would have picked up on that by now."

Lan couldn't really think at the moment, his mind was to busy racing, trying to comprehend what was happening. "But...you...we...You shouldn't be doing this."

Truthfully Lan had always liked Enzan a little at lest, it was an admiration, a very strong admiration, but he never even contemplated how much because his mind settled on You-can't-love-someone-you-hate. And he was comfortable with that, that way everything was justified, that way he didn't have address it, it was simple. That admiration had suddenly grown 10 fold when Enzan had protected him at great physical expense to himself, that simple became suddenly complicated.

After that he looked up to Enzan in ways he never knew he could, how he'd done such a selfless act out of nowhere and just dismissed it like it was nothing. It wasn't nothing! It was something! Something big! Lan had wanted to just scream that out at the top of his lungs, how could Enzan do so much damage to himself for Lan's sake, put himself through a hell of a lot of pain which he was still suffering now, and just treat it like it was nothing at all. Lan didn't know whether to be mad because of it or just happy he was taking it so well...Maybe he was mad, Enzan had just saved him, for goodness sake don't treat it like nothing!

How could he sit there and not address it for a whole month! A month! Enzan always had to be the calm, cool, collective, stubborn one, every time Lan brought it up all he said was 'It's nothing, I'm fine.' or 'Don't worry about it.' or even 'What's done is done Baka.' How could he treat all of those 'thank you's and deep appreciations like Lan was being grateful for nothing? Like it was just a simple matter that didn't deserve the attention. It was!

Lan was amazed at Enzan's strength...

Though Enzan didn't acknowledge what he did for Lan, he had started opening up to him and just now even kissed him. It turned out that Enzan had liked him, and he was actually starting to be nice... well not nice, but nice in comparison to his usual demeanor. The You-can't-love-someone-you-hate thing was completely gone, now how was he suppose to justify this? He didn't just admire Enzan, he always never _just_ admired Enzan! He cared for him, he was worried about him, despite any initial reluctance or compliant he'd do anything for him. How was he suppose to put this in perspective now? He couldn't like Enzan, he liked Megaman, that spoke for it self.

Now, he was really confused. "Enzan... you really like me?"

"You finally caught on?"

"...You...?" Lan stared up at him with wide, startled eyes. "But... I-I Can't-"

Enzan only smiled at his reaction and defiance, "If you want it then that's all that matters…" Enzan was giving Lan an open opportunity to object.

Lan wanted to say something about Megaman, about everything, give him every reason why they couldn't do this. But when he opened his mouth nothing came but another kiss from Enzan. He couldn't say it... why couldn't he say anything?

That small attraction was deeper then he realized, in reality he did want this to happen, just as much as he wanted it not to. "E-Enzan..." Why couldn't he say it? Why wouldn't the words come out...

Enzan leaned downward, stopping just short of their noises touching as he looked into Lan's still confused eyes. He had to admit that he loved that look. He smiled as he closed the small gap and pushed the two of them in another kiss. He wrapped both of his arms around Lan's back and laid himself against Lan's body, taking notice of Lan's reluctance, of Lan's slow hesitance to kiss back as he slipped his lounge past the parted lips.

All of it felt right, too right, almost like it did when Lan was with Megaman….exactly like it did when he was with Megaman, that was the problem... It didn't seem like a problem now, maybe it would have if he could think. But when Enzan kissed him his mind just seemed shut off, he couldn't think, he couldn't even remember to breathe.

Enzan trailed his hand down Lan's shirt, feeling the warm flesh beneath. He paused, hesitating for a moment before slipping it in to his pants…He was lonely and hormonal, just, he was just wasting all of this time just to give Lan more time to object. He was going to take it as far as he could but he didn't want to push Lan in to something he wasn't ready for. Of course Lan's only thought, oddly enough, was that he might make Enzan's injuries worse.

None came though, Lan just stood laid there and stared up at Enzan with a needy reluctance. He didn't move he just stared up at him silently, and Enzan knew he could continue.

Enzan's halted completely and he tensed almost to the point where his body locked up when he reached to far down and a jolt of pain shot through his body. It had come on so fast that he couldn't even hide it, his eyes winced and a soft exhale came forcibly out of his mouth.

'!' Lan saw this and immediately grabbed his waist, then he pushed him down to the bed with himself climbing on top examining. "..." Enzan finally realized his body's limits, he wouldn't be able to do anything too... strenuous... yet. "Ow...Damnit."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Enzan protested, he couldn't stop now, not _now. _Not after he spent so much time figuring everything out, he'd be damned if he was gonna waste it.

"Your not."

"Lan..." Enzan looked up at him with the most pleading look anyone had ever seen him make, he couldn't take this.

With a small sigh Lan leaned forward and gave him another soft kiss, his eyes focused down at the growing erection in Enzan's pants. "Enzan." As if finally deciding, Lan laid himself atop Enzan's body, press his hand against Enzan's cheek. If there was anything he wanted to do it was to make him feel better at lest.

Enzan wrapped his arms around Lan's neck, and pulled them both into another kiss. His tongue move feverously around Lan's mouth with strong anticipation as he hugged Lan closer to him. He couldn't let himself come this far, to contemplate the thought of what he was doing and what he would do next, just to be halted now.

Lan seemed to understand it, or at lest Enzan hoped he did, and though at first with hesitance he began to kiss back. Their lounges mingled between parted lips and explored the opposing mouth in a passionate connection. Enzan pulled Lan closer in a desperation that he didn't realize he himself had, all he knew was that he couldn't stop now, he was almost afraid that Lan would just pull back and leave.

Maybe he did understand it, maybe he held the same desperation, maybe he did by the way he was allowing Enzan to hold him. Lan gently laid his hand against Enzan's cheek while he slipped the other in between them and began pulling at the waistband of Enzan's shorts. His fingers fumbled around with haste as they unbuttoned and the fabric and loosened it with a few sharp tugs.

He wrapped his fingers around Enzan's length and began giving moving along the erection. Lan's efforts immediately drew a small whimper from Enzan, the boy tilted his head back slightly as the soft had gently stroked his cock. Lan pushed himself upward to recapture Enzan's lips, swallowing his rather loud cries. Enzan didn't realize how good this would feel.

Feeling like both his mind and his body couldn't take this slow pace, Enzan thrust helplessly into Lan's hand, nearly frantic with his need to attain release. His arms tightened around Lan's shoulder, "Lan..." Enzan arched upward against Lan's body, trusting harder into Lan's hand and then falling back flat against the bed when he pulled back. He could feel Lan bury his face into his neck, kissing and sucking the soft skin that resided there, though evidently unsure of his actions by his hesitance.

Enzan bucked his hips upward with a sharp exhale, his fingers clinched at the back of Lan's shirt when the two feelings finally came together in unison. Lan seemed to find what ever reassurance he was looking for, his actions became bolder.

Lan ran his tongue across Enzan's overheated flesh while he began to message the pre-cum soaked head of his cock with his thumb. Allowing Enzan to continue thrusting upwards and only moving to accommodated.

Enzan bit his lip pushing with another soft whimper, arching upwards for the final time as an overwhelming pleasure washed over him. With a deep breath he cringed, holding back the urge to moan loudly as he came. "Lan!" He covered Lan's hand with the warm liquid, panting heavily as the last few spurts emptied from his body.


	14. Chapter 13: Maybe

Chapter 13: Maybe

! - ! - !

**_The closer I get to you _**by**_ Luther Vandross and Beyonce_**

! - ! - !

Lan couldn't believe what had just happened, the initial shock was long past and his mind had been racing since then. He lay on the bed beside Enzan, who in contrast seemed thoroughly pleased at what had just happened. Of course Lan wasn't exactly obligatory to it, he couldn't just stop and say "We can't do this, I'm already with Megaman."...Oh great, now the words came out, little good it did now.

Enzan turned to Lan with half lidded eyes, looking just about half asleep. "Huh?"

Lan rubbed his head, "Ah- Nothing, just thinking…"

Enzan didn't feel the need to ask what he was thinking about, it was Lan he was laying next to, he could guess what probably was going through his head at the moment. Enzan was closer to what Lan was actually thinking then he realized.

_**THE CLOSER I GET TO YOU  
THE MORE YOU MAKE ME SEE**_

Anyway, Lan couldn't exactly tell Megaman about this either…That glitch was still effecting Megaman's system, he _could_ tell him and use it as cover. The way Megaman was acting he would probably ask for a three way…which might not have been a bad-- 'Come on, focus here! ' Lan shouted to himself, forcing himself to get back on the subject.

'...' Lan looked at Enzan, who had fallen asleep and some time during the course of that short slumber, he'd curled up next to him and rested his head on Lan's stomach. It was a simple action, though an interesting progression of movements since Enzan had been laying beside him. But this small simple action seemed oddly foreign because who it was coming from, this action was a needy action, this was a wanting action, this action was of someone who desired some kind of affection.

This is something he never figured would happen, at the very lest he thought an action like this would be the other way around. He had to admit though, Enzan did look very cute right now, seeing him like this he knew that being curled up like this had to hurt because of his still very apparent injuries.

'I wonder...if it hurts then why is he doing it?' Lan remembered seeing him sleep curled up like this before, maybe around two weeks ago. He looked like the position hurt so much..,but it only made Enzan curl tighter and tighter. Maybe he slept like this often, maybe it was a habit, maybe it just made him feel better. It was a protective posture, maybe he just needed to feel safe, maybe he was just lonely.

"Maybe that's it..."

Yeah, maybe.

All of this speculation seemed to bring out more feelings for the white haired boy, he was learning more about Enzan then he ever thought he'd know. "God...Enzan." He was starting to feel sorry for Enzan, he was starting to feel for Enzan like he felt for Megaman. Feelings he should only feel for one person. "Why does everything always has be so complicated!" Lan grunted loudly, much to loudly.

Enzan peaked one eye open and looked up at Lan who didn't seem to notice he was still awake. How could he not be with all the screaming.

_**BY GIVING ME ALL YOU GOT (TELL ME MORE)  
YOUR LOVE AS CAPTURED ME**_

'What's with him?' Enzan quickly shut his eye again as Lan looked back down at him.

'Great...' Lan knew he had to tell Enzan, and/or Megaman, with his luck probably and. There was no way he couldn't, it would be too hard, nearly imposable not to. Unless he managed to keep Megaman and Enzan apart all his life.

_**OVER AND OVER AGAIN  
I TRIED TO TELL MYSELF THAT WE**_

'What did he mean by complicated?' Enzan wondered trying to think of anything that would make the situation complicated. I like you, you obviously like me, what's so complicated?

_! - ! - !_

"_So are you alright Enzan?" Megaman finally asked. _

"_Yeah, I'm alright." Enzan shrugged. He leaned back on the bed with a small yawn that would have been followed by a stretch if he could lift his arms with out pain. God he was so stiff._

"_I was really worried about you... it looks like your head still hurts. Every time you narrow your eyes, you start holding your head." Megaman paid closer attention to the bandages, parts of them were spotted in red. _

"_Hmm, glad to see your working fine." Enzan replied half attentively, shifting his eyes back down at his PET._

_Blues seemed to be tolerating Zero's presence, he stopped trying to physically force him out, that was good. Enzan had to admit, it was actually funny to watch the two…co-exist… It was the only entertaining thing he'd seen since he woke up, the only thing that seemed to ease the crushing boredom, he could get use to it. 'Heh heh...'_

"_Huh..." When he looked up again, he found Megaman rubbing Lan's head. Who didn't seem to notice the oddity of it, but was enjoying it anyway since his head was still sore._

_**COULD NEVER BE MORE THAN FRIENDS  
BUT ALL THE WHILE, INSIDE , I KNEW IT WAS REAL**_

"_Geez, you two couldn't wait until you left." Enzan said, scratching his own head subconsciously. He was a little jealous, he was the first to admit it. _

_Lan looked up and noticed what Megaman was doing, he was very reluctant to tell him to stop, even then he didn't sound as convincing as he should have. "Hey Megaman, maybe you should stop."_

! - ! - !

Oh yeah, that was it. Enzan couldn't believe he didn't remember that before.

Lan liked Megaman, Megaman liked Lan, Enzan liked Lan, Lan liked Enzan. Enzan and Megaman though, they were...not, so the problem was so obvious that even Lan could figure it out quickly.

_**THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL**_

Very complicated.

But if Lan was already with Megaman, why was all of this? 'Maybe their not together anymore?' Not likely, They were close before, there was no doubt they would jump at each other if and when Megaman got a body. 'Geez, Lan.'

This was starting to make him feel like a third wheel, He didn't what to give up Lan but….

Maybe he could even it up, give Blues a body? Nah, Blues would never go for that, and they were just friends. 'What the hell am I thinking!' Enzan wasn't sure what just popped in to his mind, maybe he was thinking to much.

_**LYIN' HERE NEXT TO YOU  
TIME JUST SEEMS TO FLY**_

Anyway, it seemed the only way to get around this problem was to talk to Megaman. He really didn't want to do that, but if that glitch held……

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

_**NEEDING YOU MORE AND MORE (MORE AND MORE)  
LET'S GIVE LOVE A TRY**_

It was a slow trek for Enzan to return to his room, he moved reluctantly, making sure Lan was fully asleep before he even thought about moving. For some reason at the moment he could feel every pain, every strained movement of his muscles as if he'd become much more sensitive between the trip down and the way back up.

By the time he reached his room he felt almost to tired to move, he almost gave into the thought of falling face first into the bed and passing out. 'Hhmmm...' He rubbed his eyes as he finally reached his destination, giving a tired yawn. He wished more then ever that he was still in that room, sleeping like Lan was...

With another yawn he took a hold of the handle and slowly opening the door, he found Megaman laying across his bed asleep with the PET in his hand. Enzan was starting to get envious, he was the only one awake... 'Maybe I can do this later...' He shook his head as he took heavy steps to the beside, he had to at lest stay awake a little longer.

Enzan looked down curiously at the PET console, Zero was also asleep and Blues waiting silently, he was meditating on a thought. It was an interesting sight, all three of them together like this.

_**SWEETER AND SWEETER LOVE GROWS  
AND HEAVEN'S THERE FOR THOSE**_

Enzan sat down heavily on the edge of his bed, laying back next to Megaman. After a few seconds of thought he lifted his shoulder, nudging Megaman softly and waking him. He apparently was a light sleeper.

"Eh?" He was idle for a few seconds, then Megaman yawned, placed his hands behind him and sat up, looking around until his eyes fell upon on Enzan. "Enzan? Where's Lan?"

**WHO FOOL THE TRICKS OF TIME  
WITH HEARTS OF LOVE WILL FIND**

"He's asleep…" Enzan said, staring up at the ceiling with an almost forlorn expression coming on to his face. "I need to talk to you…"

Megaman looked at him for a minute, wondering why Enzan looked so... unwilling. Seemingly gaining what he needed to know, Megaman laid back down and rested his hands behind his head. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"It's about Lan…"

Megaman's curiosity peaked, Enzan seemed to be avoiding this conversation as long as he could, or just to sleepy to realize he was stalling. Megaman he looked towards Enzan, who was still only staring towards the ceiling.

_**TRUE LOVE IN A SPECIAL WAY**_

"Megaman do you like him?"

"Huh?" This is what they needed to talk about? "Of course."

Enzan shook his head. "No I mean _really _like him, like your in love with him?"

That was a given. "Well, Yeah." Megaman could remember vividly the the first few days when he was infected with the virus. He could remember all of the times they fought together, every time they had just simply talked and Lan had told him things he'd never told anyone else. All those times when Lan had conveyed his dreams, when he revealed how nervous he was, how angry, how said, how happy, how embarrassed. He couldn't help but be.

_**THE CLOSER I GET TO YOU  
THE MORE YOU MAKE ME SEE  
BY GIVING ME ALL YOU GOT  
YOUR LOVE AS CAPTURED ME**_

Enzan sighed, he was asking questions he already knew the answers to. He hated to hesitate but he wasn't good at this type of thing, at the very lest he could use it as a bridge in to what he was about to say. "Well…I do to." Enzan's voice was sure and as strong as it always was.

_**OVER AND OVER AGAIN  
I TRIED TO TELL MYSELF THAT WE  
COULD NEVER BE MORE THAN FRIENDS  
BUT ALL THE WHILE, INSIDE , I KNEW IT WAS REAL  
THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL**_

Megaman at first didn't believe his ears, Enzan? Out of all people, Enzan? _Enzan_? "You can't be serous?" Megaman watched Enzan, who's expression or voice hadn't wavered an inch, neither had his voice when he said this.

"Would I joke about this?" Enzan said, Hell, would he joke about anything?

Megaman knew he wasn't.

_**COME A LITTLE CLOSER SO THAT WE CAN SEE  
INTO THE EYES OF LOVE**_

At lest he understood the previous stalling now. "But how?"

"How should I know?"

"Dose Lan know?"

Enzan nodded "Yeah, he knows."

"What did he say?"

_**JUST A LITTLE CLOSER LET ME SPEAK TO YOU  
I WANT TO SOFTLY TELL YOU SOMETHING**_

It wasn't so much said with words but he could figure it out. "He feels the same way…I don't think he knows what to do. I think he's confused ." Enzan said, and obviously he was too and looking to Megaman for answer.

Megaman obviously didn't know, this wasn't what he expected to wake up to. "So... what do we do?"

_**COME A LITTLE CLOSER LET ME WHISPER IN YOUR EAR  
CUZ I WANNA TELL YOU SOMETHING**_

"That's why I wanted to talk to you…but I think it can wait until that glitch fixes itself." Enzan shifted his eyes back toward the ceiling, cuffing his hands together on his chest.

A small smirk appeared on Megaman's face at the thought. His mind was as clear as ever. "Oh that, _that_ wore off an hour ago."

_**MOVE ON IN REAL CLOSE SO WE CAN CELEBRATE  
THE WAY WE FEEL A BOUT EACH OTHER'S LOVING**_

"How do you know that?"

"Well...I don't feel the same, it's like something fell into place." Megaman didn't know how to describe the feeling, he could probably give Enzan the technical answer to whatever ever problem fixed itself. Since his body was a computer and kept detailed logs on every process, every thought he had until he chose to forget (delete) them. But Enzan probably wouldn't be interested in that, because of the virus it probably would be incomprehensibly anyway. Most things that came into his head since he got this body were.

_**I wanna tell you words of love**_

_**Words that make you wanna**_

The smirk faded from Megaman as a thought came into his mind, he found it odd that he was so melancholy about this. Should he have been mad? Should he have been angry? Maybe he should have been, maybe the fact that he wasn't was right. Maybe... "You think we should tell Lan….You know, tell him that we know?"

Enzan thought about it and then shook his head. "Nah, well let him figure it out. No pressure."

**COME A LITTLE CLOSER SO THAT WE CAN SEE  
INTO THE EYES OF LOVE**

"Hn..." Megaman shrugged and went along with it, Enzan was probably right. 'I wonder what Lan's thinking about right now...' Better yet, he wondered how something like this was realized. For him and Lan it wasn't a hard thing, they both admitted it plenty of times, especially during the first week Megaman had been infected. He was curious as to how Enzan would have admitted something like this. 'I wish I could have seen it...'

Speaking of Enzan, the boy had already fallen asleep beside him.

! - ! -!

Short, I know, sorry about that


	15. Chapter 14: Visions

Chapter 14 : Visions

A month and a week had passed since everything that happened came to a close, and Lan was still a little jumpy. Megaman thought he was just thinking to hard, that was unusual in itself, but this was a situation that required a lot of thinking.

Better Lan was doing it then he would have.

"Lan? Are you sure your alright, you don't look too good." Megaman looked over him with worry, leaning over Lan's shoulder from behind just as he'd encountered the boy leaving the bathroom.

Lan look dazed, and paler then usual, to put it bluntly he looked like the living dead. "Huh?" Lan glanced back, he hadn't even realized Megaman was behind him, which was a bad thing since Megaman wasn't exactly being quiet. "Yeah, I'm alright." Lan nodded discardingly as he drifted down the stairs and walking down the stairs to the living room.

Tadashi was sitting in his usual spot, reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee as he did every morning. The man tilted the paper downward and looked at Lan and Megaman who was standing closely behind. "Ah Megaman, are you feeling any better?"

Megaman smiled and nodded "Yeah, my head feels a little more organized now." He lifted his left arm and squeezed his bicep lightly. "I still can't do a lot though, I still get dizzy."

"Ah, well, I guess we'll have to work on that." Tadashi had been working with Megaman to study and fix the problem. Everyday for a month he'd take Megaman to his lab and run test and diagnostics, he was able to work out a few patches to help Megaman's mind defragment and organize.

Tadashi finally noticed Lan who hadn't done anything but stand there looking as if he'd fall over. "Lan? Are you alright?" He asked.

Lan was starting to get a little annoyed at everyone asking that.

He carefully slipped a finger under the bandages on his head and scratched an itch, sure to avoid any painful spots still not completely healed, those unfortunately were the most itchy.

"_Yes_, I'm fine." Lan told him, for some reason unknown to him he felt a sudden sleepiness, it was like a weight pulling down everything inside his body. He shook his head and clinched his fist, feeling the sleepiness turning to weakness. 'Huh...What is that?'

Tadashi noticed the confusion suddenly coming into Lan's half lidded eyes, he decided that maybe Lan shouldn't go out today. "You've probably been overdoing it, go upstairs and get some rest." Tadashi said, folding the newspaper across his lap and sitting down again.

"Nah, I'll just sit here a minute…" Lan confidently allowed himself to fall back into the couch loudly and laid his head back, staring up at the ceiling. A small rest, yeah, that was all he needed. He just got a little tired going down the stairs for some reason, just sitting for a little bit was helping. He was even starting to relax... 'Yeah...' his muscles loosened and all the tension left his body...

...That's when his whole body went from relaxed to completely weak, to the point when he couldn't move. "… … ..." 'Huh? What's going on?' He thought the words came out of his mouth, but for some reason he hadn't even moved his lips. In fact the only thing he could move was his eyes.

His eyes rolled upward when he felt that itching on his head getting worse up and saw that his bandages were turning red, "…… ." Again he tried to speak but nothing came out. 'Oh man! What's happening, Why can't I move!' If he could move right now he'd be flailing frantically.

Letting his eyes look back toward the ceiling, he saw Megaman and his father standing over him, he hadn't even noticed them before.

"I told him to go upstairs and get some rest." Tadashi sighed and shook his head.

'Dad? Megaman?'

"I knew he didn't look too good, I should have kept him in bed." Megaman said, getting an odd look from Tadashi for that comment. When he realized what he said must of sounded like, Megaman quickly lifted his hands and shook his head frantically. "Not like that!"

Out of nowhere Zero came in between them, the virus knelt down and looking at Lan closely. "I think you need to go to the hospital." He said.

'Zero! Help me!……?' That's when Lan realized just how wrong this sight was. 'Hey wait...Zero? What are you doing here!"

Megaman and Tadashi stepped out of Lan's eye sight while Zero reached up and pulled down a spot light. That last time Lan checked he didn't have one of those in his living room. It was almost blinding, forcing Lan to squint his eyes and try to look away. '?' When they finally adjusted to the light he could see Zero still standing over him, but this time he was wearing Hospital Scrubs, latex gloves and a white surgeons mask that covered his mouth and noise "He's all yours."

'Oh man, I'm going crazy!'

Enzan was standing over him now in similar attire, "Lan? What happened to you?" Enzan asked rhetorically.

"……" 'Enzan? What are you doing here? I'm losing my mind!'

"Hmm..." Enzan began unwrapping the bandages from Lan's head, he couldn't see past the bottom of his eyes brows though so he had no idea what was being done to him. Enzan held out his hand and Zero handed him something that was masked by the light.

"…Almost….There." Enzan took off the mask and wiped his forehead triumphantly. He looked to Zero, "Deliberator."

Zero nodded to him, then leaned down and whispered in Lan's ear. "I'll go get one…Phsst I'll be right back Lan." With that, Zero from his view.

That left only Enzan who was leaning down and looking over him closely.

"Lan, I can't stand to see you like this… it's too bad." Enzan paused, and then looked as if he'd remembered something. "Oh yeah. Remember about a month ago when I woke up in the hospital? Heh, I remember you were there, you were the first thing I saw after that accident on the island." He smiled and folded his arms. "You were so happy when I woke up, but I was already awake, I herd everything you said. You are so-" Enzan was cut off by the sound of a door opening and a cart rolling over to him.

With in the moment Zero was standing over him with two iron like devices in his hands, he clamped them together and a high pitched sound rang out.

"Clear!"

Both of them stepped back when Zero pressed them to Lan's chest. '!' He felt a jolt of energy rush through him and immediately he sat up, looking in a manner similar to a startled animal. "Huh!"

Instead of a hospital setting or seeing Zero and Enzan. He found himself sitting in a black chair in front of an well polished oak desk, surrounded by a well furnished office. "W-where am I?" Lan looked around, trying his best suppress the voice in his head screaming that he was losing it. The most notable thing he saw was a chair sitting on the other side of the desk. The chair turned around, revealing Tadashi in in a black suit and blue tie.

"Dad! Oh man I'm so glad you're here, everything is going crazy around here, first I couldn't move at all it was horrible, and then all of this and- " Lan's words rushed out, almost slurring together incomprehensibly.

"Wait, as your lawyer I'd advise you to keep the next part of your statement to yourself." Tadashi said, lifting a black suitcase on to the desk.

Lan blinked in confusion. "Lawyer? Your not a lawyer, and you hate lawyers, and why would I need one?"

"You may not need me, nut aren't you glad to know I'm here?" Tadashi asked confidently.

Lan was about to answer that odd statement, but he stopped and thought about it. "Well, yes… Hey! What happened? Where did that suite come from? And why is your suit red now?"

Tadashi just let out an ominously low laugh, and for some reason his suit really was red. "Not important. What is important is that you have an appointment to get to." Tadashi looked at the watch that was apparently on his arm. "Now."

He got up from his side of the desk, grabbed Lan by the shoulders and hastily pulled him up out of his seat and pushed him toward the door… The door that wasn't there before.

'Where did that door come from?' Lan planted his feet and stopped, finding being pushed around was really annoying. "Alright, Alright!" Lan said. He opened the door and found himself suddenly floating, completely lost with out gravity as if he was in space.

He looked back, and just as it had appeared it was gone, then he quickly looked forward and saw Zero floating just above and ahead with his back turned. He'd appeared so suddenly it made him jump.

"Zero!" Lan called out to him, swimming toward him.

"Huh?" Zero turned around and caught sight of him, it wasn't to hard since he was the only thing here. "Lan? What are you doing here?" He grabbed Lan by his arm and pulled next to him, drifting side by side in the illuminating darkness.

"Here? Where is here? What's going on around here!" Lan clinched his head and cried out loudly. "I'm losing it, I'm losing it!"

Zero grabbed him by his shoulders and held him still. "Lan, Lan, calm down." Zero grabbed his head and fixed Lan's view strait ahead, "Don't go crazy on me now. Just look, look at all of the stars, be calm."

There were a lot of stars... none of which Lan noticed before... "Whoa...Where are we, and what are you doing here?"

"I don't know." Zero shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

Lan looked around almost in awe at the bright stars, there were so many of them that he couldn't speak...

"How should I know, this is you dream." Zero told him.

Dream? This was a Dream? It couldn't be a dream. "But…When could I have fallen asleep?" He thought. "I know I got up and went downstairs. I didn't close my eyes for a second…" Lan didn't even realize that he was in a dream, some how his mind went with everything that was happening and didn't even entertain the notion that this could be a dream.

There was no way he could have been dreaming.

"I must be hallucinating." Lan shook his head, that's when he finally noticed the bandages were gone and there was no wound anymore. 'Huh?' When he looked back at Zero, he noticed that the virus wasn't wearing his armor anymore, instead a white suit. His hair was still tied at the top by a band keeping it relatively in control. "Zero? What are you wearing?"

"Heh heh." Zero smiled, running a hand over his long yellow hair. 'Geez Lan, you sure have strange dreams.' "Look." He pointed just head of them where Megaman was floating, seemingly unconscious.

'!' "Megaman!" With out hesitation Lan started to move toward him, though he found it harder then he expected to move in a place like this. He found swimming seemed effective. But just as he was about to make some progress he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It was Tadashi, still dressed in that red suit.

"Wait, something it wrong here." He said, looking at Megaman, then at Zero.

"You and that crazy suit is what's wrong." Lan remarked, finally noticing the contrast sitting in front of him. He pointed to Tadashi and Zero "What is this, a good and evil thing right? Which one of you is the evil one." He half expected his father to answer.

"He is!" Zero and Tadashi said at the same time, each one pointing at the other. The other half of him expected that to happen.

"Come on, just because I'm wearing a red suit doesn't mean I'm evil." Tadashi pointed out in a manner similar to a hurt child.

"He's a _lawyer_!" Zero said accusingly, pointing at Tadashi even more feverously then before. " A l-a-w-y-e-r. I say go for it, how could this be bad?" Zero did make a good point.

"Yeah..." Lan silently swam through the gravity-less environment towards Megaman floating just ahead of him. All he needed was just to go ... a little... farther. "Got him!" Lan reached out and grabbing on to his leg.

All of a sudden the gravity suddenly returned and in the blink of an eye he found himself hanging off a cliff, only holding on to Megaman, who was slowly slipping. "WHAAAA!" Lan scrambled and grabbed the edge of the rock and pulling himself on to the land faster then he ever thought he could move. 'This can't be a dream! Isn't a dream suppose to go my way?'

He looked at his new surrounding, the skies were black with clouds and the ground was hard and dry enough to make it fracture and crack. "Megaman?" Lan shook the former navi softly, it was a lot easier now that he was on the ground. But Megaman didn't move or make a sound. "Megaman...Wake up." Lan lent down and gave him a small kiss on the forehead, that usually would wake Megaman up. With out fail every time he kissed Megaman when he was sleeping he woke up.

But without a reason he found himself kissing Enzan instead. 'Huh? Huh!' He stumbled and almost fell when he noticed that he was standing now, things changed around so quickly it was disorienting.

Enzan wrapped his arms around Lan and caught him, smiling down at him with his usual confident, amused smirk. That smirk faded away for some unknown reason, replaced by a shy expression. "Lan…I--I…" Enzan looked away from him down at the ground.

"Enzan? What's wrong?" Lan looked around, trying to find what Enzan had been looking. There was nothing to look for, they were surrounded by darkness.

Enzan looked at Lan, staring in to his eyes as if searching in the boy for something he needed. He seemed to find it before he continued. "I really like you….And I want to be with you. NOT second hand."

Lan looked at him almost confused at first, until he realized what Enzan meant. 'Oh...' He rubbed his head nervously. "I'm sorry, I can't do this…I really like you too but-" Before he could finish Enzan let go of him and backed away. Then with typical snort he shoved his hands in to his pockets and walked off. "Enzan! Wait!"

"He's right, you've got to chose."

Lan, just as suddenly as always, was back in the same situation as before with Megaman, this time Megaman was awake. 'Enzan? Where did Enzan go?' "Megaman…I can't." Lan sighed.

Megaman shook his head, climbing to his feet and walking away also.

"Hey Megaman! Wait, come back."

Megaman ignored him completely, walked over the cliff seemingly on air. When Lan tried to follow he found what ever applied to Megaman didn't apply himself, he nearly fell a distance he didn't want to find out how large. "Whoaa!"

He would have went over if two hands hadn't grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. "Huh?" Lan was abruptly turned around towards the two people who'd saved him, which were of course none other then Zero and Tadashi.

"See, I told you this wouldn't end well." Tadashi said, giving Zero a look in his own calm, reserved way.

"Don't look at me, it could have turned out good…" Zero shrugged.

Lan hung his head low, staring at the ground. This was too strange to put into words."What do I do now?" He said, almost to himself.

Tadashi laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and rubbed his back lightly."As you lawyer I can tell you the translation of that was that you have to pick one of them or you wont have either."

"I just noticed something…" Another random thing happened, though this time it was just a statement from Zero was unexpected. "Since when do I have dreams?" Zero asked with an enlightened tone, both Lan and Tadashi looked at Zero.

Lan looked up thoughtfully. "What do you remember before you-... wait, what am I saying? This is supposed to be my dream."

"I'm not so sure about that, It's mine." Tadashi announced.

He and Lan looked at each other, followed by a slight pause... "Whosever it is, it's not mine. It couldn't be." Zero ignored the two for a moment, he remembered everything he did before going to sleep. The only thing he could think of was that this whole thing he was was an error in his programming, why not, he was a virus.

With that, he turned to Tadashi, who seemed to know what he was thinking. "Maybe I know what your thinking because it's my dream." Tadashi said thoughtfully

"_Anyway_, we need to talk."

Lan turned and looked back to where Megaman had just left him. Only when he turned away from Zero and his father did he find himself in Enzan's hospital room. Enzan was sitting on the bed, full cloth and looking directly at him as if expecting him. "Geez, what the hell is going on around." But there was relief in his eyes this time. "This is the weirdest dream…Lan I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that but-"

"No Enzan your right, I can't just do this to you and Megaman. I have to chose, but…" Lan's voice trailed off with light thought, he found himself repeating what he had already said once before. He realized that he didn't really know what to say now.

Enzan pulled Lan by the shoulders in to his arms again, kissing him on the forehead."Just forget it."

"Enzan..." Lan wrapped his arms around Enzan's back and closed his eyes.

Again as soon as he stopped paying attention he found himself in a completely different position all together. "Wha..." Lan opened his eyes again, he was sitting in Megaman's lap with his back against Megaman's chest and two strong arms around his waist.

"Megaman?"

Megaman didn't say anything at first, making Lan uncomfortable in the awkward silence. But he seemed to find himself and began to speak, though slow and unsure. "Lan… I want you to be happy, even if you don't chose me I'll just be happy being your friend."

! - ! - !

Enzan wondered through the streets aimlessly. Sure he hadn't officially been discharged from the hospital but that never stopped you before, and though he was out but he wasn't ready to go home. So instead he decided to walk around and think. He wasn't going anywhere in particular, most of the time his eyes were closed.

He didn't have to worry about traffic considering that it was past midnight and few if any people where out.

Enzan opened hi eyes and looked up... he stopped and shook his head at himself. "Hn. Figures." Some how his wandering had lead him to Lan's front door, it wasn't surprising really.

After hours of walking he was to tired to go anywhere else, he had already been asleep in the hospital up until he decided he was sick of staying in that bed for days on end. Out of impulse he'd just left, and he was undoutably sure that he had fallen asleep on his feet a few times during the trip.

! - ! - !

Lan's eyes shot open and immediately he sat up...

He was in his bed and everything seemed normal, that was until he felt two hands pulling him back down. "Huh?" Lan fell back on to the soft warmth between to bodies... Two? Why was there two?

He was surprised to see Enzan, on his left, and Megaman on his right, and that he was completely naked.

There had to be a word better then nervous.

Megaman and Enzan began to kiss and suck along Lan's neck in a sleepy haze, Enzan's hand slid down Lan's back while Megaman's grazed down his chest. 'I...I must be still dreaming.' With that thought comforting him Lan closed his eyes, letting a small moan ease from his lips at the soft, massaging touches. Dream, this had to be a dream, maybe Zero was right, he did fall asleep, because there was no way this was really happening.

Enzan lent forward and kissed him softly, his tongue moving skillfully across every part of his mouth in his usual, taunting way. It always left Lan waiting for more, for the intensity to increase, for something fiercer. But Enzan always held back, always in that confident, manipulative way, since he always knew Lan impatient, and needy.

'This is a dream, this has to be a dream...' Lan gasped, opening his mouth wider with surprise of the sudden sensation. Enzan ran his fingers down Lan's spine, teasingly pressing in certain spots on his way down causing Lan to arch upward slightly with pleading moans. Lan could see the other boy smirk at him, before he could wonder why he felt two fingers slip in to his entrance. "E-Enzan..." Lan tense and squirmed lightly before he was held down by Megaman, Enzan moved away from Lan's mouth and buried his face into the other boy's neck. He seemed to be waiting for Megaman, or just teasing him.

'This has to be a dream, this has to be a dream.'

Megaman lent forward and pressed his mouth against the quickly overheating expanses of Lan's chest. The former navi moved downward with a trail of warm, wet kisses across Lan's chest, moving with more feather soft touches that aroused his senses. He ran his tongue over one of the hardened nipples, then sucking sensitive flesh while he gently brushed against the other with his hand.

"Megaman..." Lan tilted his head back, trying to hold still while Megaman abruptly pulled off his boxers, still kissing and licking as he took hold Lan's erection. Again he pushed the boy down as Lan arched upward from the two sensations playing with in him, a firm hand planted itself on his chest while the other stroked Lan's cock with a firm grip.

As soon as Megaman started Enzan began to move, thrusting his fingers in to Lan slowly but hard. Stopping every so often to massage a certain spot or another. "Ah…Enzan…Megaman" Lan didn't know whether to push back against Enzan or thrust forward to Megaman. Just another representation of the bigger problem.

That was made more apparent by what was said next. "Lan...You've got to chose…" Enzan whispered teasingly, driving his fingers into Lan deeper almost as if to emphasize a point.

He really should emphasize more points.

Megaman lent up, sliding his tongue along Lan's jaw line and softly nibbling on his ear.. "Yeah…Who will it be Lan?" Megaman rubbed the head of his erection with his thumb, another place extra sensitive on the boy, while Enzan thrust his fingers upward in unison.

He squirmed uselessly, unable to contain himself under the strong sensations. "Ah…I-I...AHH!" Lan couldn't mange to get any words out, only a loud groan forced it's way through before he came. Sending a spurt of cum from his softening member streaming on to his stomach and dripping over Megaman's hand.

With a soft sigh Enzan removed his fingers from Lan, teasing the edge of his entrance with a few soft touches on his way out. Then he awkwardly lifting Lan up from the side and slid beneath him him, laying the panting boy on his chest and wrapping his arms around his torso in a warm embrace.

Lan was too unfocused and tired to say anything, but being held like this, having both of them close to him, it made Lan feel... safe, and relaxed. Personally he would have just been content to stay like this.

"Tch, You always get that look." Enzan said teasingly, leaving more kisses and licks along Lan's shoulder as he positioned himself so that his erection was in-between Lan's legs, pressing against the base of Lan's. Megaman wrapped his hand around Enzan's cock, coating it with Lan's cum.

Enzan slipped his arms underneath Lan's legs and pushed his length in to smaller frame above him.

"Enzan!" Lan clinched his eyes shut and took a deep breath as he felt the hard length push in, giving a slow, easing thrust at first. Lan let out a heavy breath, arching up from the considerably more intense feeling that came this time. The thought of what was happening to him let along it actually happening was more then enough to make him hard again, which is what Megaman was waiting for. Lan couldn't stop himself from blushing even now.

Megaman lowered himself down in-between Lan's legs and took the boy into his mouth, the warm cum tainted flesh twitched lightly under the re-new sensations while Megaman at first just letting Enzan's thrust move the length. But he quickly adjusted to it, sucking the cock and swirling his tongue around the head while Lan's hips were driven upward, moving Lan deeper into his mouth.

"Mega..." With half-lidded eyes Lan slipped one hand into Megaman's hair, he couldn't resist reaching back and wrapping his other arm around Enzan's neck to steady himself. He felt as if he'd fall.

"Heh, Don't worry I got you." Enzan whispered, tightening his hold on Lan.

This was the most amazing thing he he'd ever felt, somehow he managed to get Enzan and Megaman, at the same time. 'This has to be a dream, this can't be real.'

Enzan kissed Lan along his neck, teasing across his cheek until he reached his lips. Lan turned towards him to make the kiss less awkward, moaning him to his mouth and clinching Megaman's hair in an almost painful grip.

Enzan pulled back, softly kissing his neck again. He thrust upward harder now, driving his cock into Lan harder and faster.

Lan closed his eyes tightly, letting his head fall back on to the bed over Enzan's shoulder. He would have moaned if his short breath would have allowed him to, but instead his just clinched and bit down on lip. He came for the second time, sending his seed into Megaman's mouth in large enough amounts to overflow and drip down Megaman's chin.

"That was amazing." Lan said tiredly, conceding to a kiss from Enzan.

! - ! - !

Lan's eyes shot open and he sat up abruptly, this time feeling more of a sense of realism then the previous time's he'd woken up. "..." He couldn't completely tell if he was still dreaming or not... Could someone be sleepy in a dream? No, they couldn't, this must have been real.

Lan rubbed his eyes and look down at himself, he was wearing nothing more then a pair of boxers , which were now wet with cum from his last _extremely_ realistic dream.

"!" Lan flinched when he heard a soft stirring beside him him, 'What was...' With a deep breath Lan laid back down. He nearly jumped right back up when he felt two kisses on both of his cheeks followed by an very sleepy and stern, "Go back to sleep." from two familiar voices residing on both sides of him. "M-Megaman! Enzan!" Lan could hardly believe this. Maybe he was still dreaming, yeah he was still dreaming. That's it, he'd just close his eyes until he woke up. That would work right?

"Sleep." Enzan mumbled tiredly, burying his face in the pillow under him.

"I just had the strangest dream." Lan announced, speaking much more quietly, almost in a whisper. His eyes shifted nervously between the two of them, he was dreaming, he was dreaming.

"Yeah, we heard." Megaman told him in a nearly incoherent voice, rolling over and turning towards Lan with his eyes closed.

A large blush spread across Lan's face as he rubbed his head nervously, this situation was bad enough without them hearing _that_.

"Your making me horny, Go. To. _Sleep!_" Enzan commanded, lifting his head from the pillow looking at Lan with a look every bit as commanding as his voice. He and Megaman both wrapped their arms around him at the same time, Enzan laid his head on Lan's chest , but neither of them seemed to noticed what the other was doing.

Lan sighed, this wasn't all bad. Until they woke up at lest.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"We're not going to make you chose Lan. Really, I- don't- care." Enzan said, he was sitting on Lan's left. "I don't have time to worry about it anyway, it's only a matter of time before the hospital sends out a search party."

"Yeah, long as your happy you can take as long as you like. Technically, I shouldn't be here anyway." Megaman said, sitting on Lan's right. "Wait, search party? What dose that mean?"

"Hmm...I-I really like you both, I just can't chose…" Lan sounded almost depressed, another blush spreading across his cheeks from some unknown embarrassment. This wasn't exactly easy. But on the other hand, he did have both of them at the same time… No, stop thinking like that, bad thought!

"You know, I had the strangest dream last night." Tadashi's voice echoed from the hallway as he walking in to the living room. He had Lan's PET and was talking to Zero after shifting his studying experiments from Megaman to Zero for the weak.

Zero looked up at the man with uncertainty, he spoke reluctantly, as if he had to gather his thoughts just to say it. "It's strange, I-I… did to, either that or something is wrong…" Did you do something to me?"

Tadashi shook his head, he hadn't done anything to Zero's programing, he just studied and observed it.

"You were a Lawyer." Zero told him.

"Strange, I had one were I was a Lawyer… and I was pushing Lan to-" Tadashi looked up and saw Enzan, Lan, and Megaman on the couch together. "In fact I feel I'm still in it right now."

"Yeah." Zero agreed. "What are the odds? You three were… uh…" Zero stopped when he realized the situation. "Mr. Haikari….Please make sure I never….ever get a body."

"No problem."

"Dr. Hikari." Megaman stood up with a small stretch, he was feeling sluggish today, and kind of stiff. He'd never had this kind of lag before. "Are you going to work on me again today."

Tadashi gave the P.E.T back to Lan and picked up the news paper off of the table. "Yes Megaman."


	16. Chapter 15: Sluggish

Chapter 15: Sluggish

"Your doing better Megaman." Tadashi nodded approvingly, running a hand through the soft, tan strands of hair atop his head and slipping a pin mounted behind his ear into his hands. Then he began scribbling notes on a clipboard in his other hand.

Megaman simply lay there on the soft, padded examination table, his body stripped down and completely bare, it was enough to almost make the former navi blush slyly. Connected to him were small, round electrodes, linked by wires to other devices, quite a few of them. A pair were placed across his forehead, another atop his nipples, two more on his stomach, his legs, his feet, and just about every opening on his body was connected to something. The port behind his neck was of course the first to be linked to one of the devices, but there were connections in other openings, openings that did infact make Megaman blush when he thought about them. And the pointlessness that would have come of wearing even a pair of boxers with them connected, so he found it best to keep his mind blank and think as little of it as possible. It wasn't hard since his mind was a computer.

Green eyes scanned absentmindedly over the room, the calming off white walls, the matching tiled floors, long white florescent lights mounted across the ceiling, cabinets holding unknown supplies lined the ground against the left and north walls. Computers, nodes, machines lined the others, few of which Megaman knew their specific purpose.

Megaman wasn't generally the claustrophobic type, but something about this room made him feel uneasy, closed in. It wasn't small, not at all, but with all the machines and needles, it made him feel like a test subject somewhere. It would have been unbearable had not Tadashi been here with him, The older man with his reassuring words, his friendly smile, his simply overall comforting demeanor made everything just a little more warm, more open. "Really?" He asked, green eyes blinking questioningly.

"Yes." Tadashi repositioned the pen behind his ear and set the clipboard aside on the white counter, looking over Megaman with a silent scrutinizing expression, contemplating silent ideas Megaman wouldn't understand.

"So you figured it out?" Megaman asked, more out of simple curiously then anything else. Not that he wasn't wondering what could possibly come from sticking certain instruments in very sensitive places. 'Just don't think about it, stop thinking about it…'

Tadashi shook his head disappointedly, his own inner conflict struggling in his mind as he tried to do the same thing he'd been trying to do for a little over a month, figure out Megaman. He wanted to know why, why Megaman became dizzy and nauseated when he tried to physically exert himself, why Megaman was having all these odd glitches. A mystery that seemed to evade him every time he thought he had it at lest partially figured out. "Unfortunately no."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more." Megaman offered apologetically. He stared at the ceiling almost blankly as he felt a small breeze from the air conditioner wash over his exposed body, causing a soft shutter to ripple up of spin and a chill to come to his skin. Simple things, simple touches like that were what amazed him the most. Hard contacts like blows or otherwise didn't surprise him nor fascinate him like the soft ones, he expected his body to pick up things like that. But the softest, trace amounts, the barest of contacts, it was interesting that he even detected those. Infact he seemed to be the most susceptible to those, they brought out the most reactions, those played the most on his skin's sensitivity.

"You shouldn't apologize, your the one going through this for me." Tadashi's eyes softened from the concentrated look to the friendly concerned one that put Megaman at ease, almost sympathetically his gaze fell on the bio-machine. He was putting Megaman through every test and trail possible to figure out the answers to his curiosities , the former navi was connected to more machines then Megaman knew about, some connections... harder to go through with then others. "Thank you Megaman." He told him gratefully, resting a hand on Megaman's shoulder

He was sure of it now, the answers he sought after didn't lay with Megaman, but with the virus that caused all of this in the first place. He needed to study Zero, maybe then he could figure out why the integrated part of the virus within Megaman made the bio-android react so improperly. Not to mention a few other questions he had.

"Mr. Hikari..." Megaman looked up reluctantly at the man again, a self-conscious blush spreading across his cheeks as he forced himself to keep his gaze on Tadashi. This wasn't exactly the way he wanted the man seeing him "Are we done?"

Tadashi receded from his thoughts with a quick expression of surprise flashing over his distracted face, snapping his attention back to Megaman, at first he wondered why he was blushing. Then he remembered he was completely naked with things linked to him in rather compromising ways. "Oh. Yes." The man nodded. "Thanks again." He reached over to the counter and retrieved the clipboard that resided there, giving one last menial glance to Megaman before he began writing something.

"Alright." Megaman was starting to suspect he was only getting put through so much because of Lan, this could be Tadashi's way of getting back at him for his sudden relationship with his son. He was gonna take him apart or embarrass him to death trying. 'Stop thinking about it!'

! - ! - !

It was a bright day outside, the golden sunlight shined brightly through the open window, illuminating the whole room and making the white walls and floors seem surreally bright. Small breezes drifted in from the open frame, blowing the white curtains outwards and letting them gracefully flow back into place like water taking the shape of it's container before poring out again.

Enzan contemplated going out the window once.

The boy laid silently on the familiar hospital sheets and covers, his elbow resting on the railings surrounding the upper portion of the hospital bed, his head resting in his elevated hand. Enzan stared at the window as if it were his lifeline, he was in the damn hospital! Again! 'I'm on the seventh floor, there's no way I could get out the window.' He thought hopelessly.

It wasn't nearly as easy to get out of the hospital as he thought, it was like the first attempt was given to him for free, giving him a taste of freedom before locking him in .He probably wouldn't have had to see this room again if it wasn't for his own faults. As it seemed he wasn't as healed as much he had thought that day, sure he was a little weak, and he had a headache, and his eyes were kinda glassy as Tadashi pointed out. But he thought he was fine, until his breathing grew heavy for no reason and his heart started pounding, then he blacked out.

And he woke up here, in this room, again. They told him he must have been contaminated with something, presumably back when he was escaping the island, which caused all of those side effects. And now he was sitting here, connected to an IV of who knew what, waiting for his blood test results and anticipating a batter of other test they probably didn't think of doing yet. He was stuck here now.

'?' Enzan let his eyes fall from the window on to the P.E.T in his lap, Zero was here again as he usually was, and Blues seemed thoroughly annoyed at his presence. But that didn't say much, Blues was easily annoyed anyway.

Blues was fixed on the ground, sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded, staring outward with a silent irritation. Zero stood over his shoulder, both pairs of black and white wings fully outstretched on his back, looking down at him with a child like curiosity. "How long are you gonna sit here like that?" Zero asked, resting his hands on his waist and leaning forward.

"No." Blues immediately retorted to a question that had yet to be asked, but he knew it was coming.

"Aw come on." Zero sighed, Blues was really staring to figure him out. "Come on, come with me."

"Hell no." Blues snorted, simply and decisively.

Enzan watched the interaction with slight interest, he had to admit, the two of them made his stay considerably more bearable then if he had been by himself. Blues alone wasn't much for socialization, but with Zero here they were a pretty interesting combination, not a very compatible one but an interesting one none the less. Honestly Enzan didn't know why Zero kept returning, Blues didn't hide the fact he didn't want the virus there in the least, infact he exerted it every chance he got. They hadn't had a civil conversation yet, since Blues wasn't much of a talker and Zero was a little more so, there was extensive confliction.

But there were a lot less augments then there used to be, and hardly any yelling anymore, there was even silence some times.

"Come on Blues! Come with me." Zero grabbed him by the arm and tugged at him softly. "It'll be fun, I guarantee it."

Blues sat immobile, barely deviating an inch from where he'd planted himself. "Tch, I'm not going anywhere with you." He replied callously. "For all I know I might get infected."

Enzan paused, more like froze, with a sudden onset of nervousness rising. An uneasy tenseness never failed to swell within him when Blues entered the topic of Zero's existence as a virus, it was a sensitive subject for him, since he clearly reviled that side of his being. It was enough to easily make him fall into a self-loathing depression, since he had on several-occasions.

"Yeah right! Your just scared!" Zero shot back, watching an infuriating look on Blue's face grow at the insinuation with satisfaction. If there was one thing Blues hated, it was when Zero called him scared, but it was fair game it seemed.

A small breath was released he hadn't realize he'd been holding in and Enzan relaxed. On second thought, maybe this wasn't a completely inconceivable co-existence, there was something, possibly an dysfunctional aspect, but something to this. A small smile crossed Enzan's lips as he heard Blues's lose his temper and an augment broke out between them, "You two bicker like children."

Almost automatically Blues snapped at him. "Are you calling me a child!" The navi growled angrily.

Enzan lifted his hands in concession, "No, not at all."

Blues's glared invisibly behind the visor, folding his arms. "He's the child!"

Zero bared over Blues, his eyes narrowed and fist raised. "You're the one being a child! Your just scared!"

Dysfunctional, Enzan nodded to himself, there was no better word to describe it. At lest it wasn't boring, as hard as it was for Blues to endure Zero, he couldn't see this situation being any better with anyone else. He couldn't see this going better with anyone else, Blues would be miserable with out a doubt if there was someone like just like him there with him, it would be nothing but silence, boring silence. At the very least Enzan was convinced Blues at lest enjoyed the change of pace Zero brought if nothing else.

'Heh.' Enzan sat upright, scratching the bandages on his left arm softly as he slowly shifted his legs and eased them over the side of the bed. Holding on to the railing for support, he pushed himself upright. If there was one thing he could say he missed about the hospital, it was being given an IV, since whatever pain medication they had been feeding to him intravenously made the pain dull considerably. He never realized how much burns ached, even now there was this sensation of heat across his skin.

Enzan set the PET upon the bed and softly paced over the white tiled floors, his left leg visibly pained him when he took steps so a slight limp came into his form when he walked. 'Damn leg.' Enzan closed his eyes indifferently, shoving his hands into his pockets and heading with a slow rate toward the door. "I'll be back."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Annoying…" Blues mumbled angrily, placing himself back down on the ground and folding his arms again, his back to the red clad Navi. There had to be a word better then annoying, how about aggravating, Zero certainly was aggravating. Better yet, Infuriating, his presence always seemed to reach Blues last nerves with out fail. Blues could see him through his fairly developed hindsight, Zero stood there, staring angrily at the back of his head, then folding his arms in a similar manner and turning away with a clear anger.

"I'm not annoying, your just mean." Zero responded, imitating Blue's cold, callousness as best he could. He was starting to feel a good deal of frustration himself, dealing with Blues wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. He was cold, introverted, and had no patience for Zero beyond the half navi's first words.

And they sat there, both with their backs to each other. "Shut up." Blues replied with authority. He always had a commanding aspect to his voice that demanded compliance or at lest attention.

Zero growled in visible anger, then finally just turned away again and folded his arms, unable to think of anything worth while to speak of. 'He is mean.' He thought to himself… "!" Zero suddenly flinched, his face cringing, a shuddering chill shooting up his spine hard enough to make his body go tense and rigged. 'What…what the hell?' Zero looked around himself when he couldn't contemplate a reason for the reaction, finding nothing different, nothing that would warrant that type of feedback.

Blues glanced over his shoulder when he heard hiss of a the sharp intake of air coming from Zero's direction, turning back just in time to see the jolt and stiffing of the half navi's body. By the way Zero was looking around, he seemed flustered by it. "What?"

"Nothing." Zero said discardingly, dismissing the spasm as any number of irrelevant things. He was half a virus, it could have just been that… "…Actually…" Zero started down at the ground like a nervous child who had to admit to a crime, his finger subconsciously interacting with each other in his lap, a clear uncertainty coming in his voice and form.

Blues was confused at the sudden chance in demeanor, Zero wasn't the type of person to change moods quickly, it was always a gradual process. It made him uneasy, "What?" His arms lowered slowly to his sides and turned around fully.

"Does… this place feel different to you?"

What? What the hell did he mean by that? Blues looked at Zero's back for a moment, he couldn't seem to under stand why something like that would cause such a reaction. Maybe there was a deeper meaning in that?...Blues's mind exhausted all the possibilities he could think of and couldn't figure out why he would get so shy over that question. "No. Why?"

"I don't know." Zero shrugged, "It just seems like…I don't know, nothing feels the same anymore." He said. It was odd, almost numbing, that was the only way to describe it. It was a subtitle thing, like the feelings and sensations that came from all of his usual places were dulled slightly. 'It's just me. I wonder why…'

"Whatever your talking about, it's probably nothing." Blues retorted indifferently.

"Really? How do you know?" Zero shot back with anger, more at the fact Blues was just disregarding his concerns as nothing.

"Because you don't even make sense." The annoyment returned to blue's voice again when he spoke. He clearly was sick of him again.

Zero grunted again with annoyment, glaring at Blues, about to shout angrily at the navi…but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, a thought crossed his mind, simply thinking it over made him smile a little. "You know, your pretty mean for a scared guy."

Blues immediately looked back with an angry stare at Zero, his eye twitching slightly. "I'm not scared of anything." He said, his voice in dangerously low tones. Any normal person would have noticed the hazard in this line of actions and quit now, maybe even apologized for the insulation, however Zero never did before, and he saw no reason to start now.

Zero grinned, pointing accusingly at Blues. "You are, I can see it clearly now." He said, with apparent amusement. It was so clear to now, Blues was scared! He was afraid of him, normally the realization would have been a completely depressing to him…actually it was depressing when he thought about it, but it was also finding this out about Blues was like finding out one's weakness. Wait, was what it was right? 'Yeah, that's it…wait, it is right?' "Your afraid of me!" Yeah, that was it…he was afraid of him, Blues was afraid of him.

"Afraid!" Blue shouted, rising to his feet and turning toward Zero mincingly. "Of an idiot like _you_?"

"Yeah!" He didn't know what he was expecting but that reaction wasn't it, maybe more along the lines of surprise that he'd realized it, or some denial of the clam, something. Zero glanced up thoughtfully, maybe he had the wrong- "Ahhaa!" Zero yelped in surprise as Blue's foot slammed into his chest and he was sent falling to the ground, hard. '!' Before he could even open his eyes, Blue's was on top of him, pinning him down, his hands only inches away from strangling.

"Afraid!" He shouted loudly, the audacity! What the hell did he mean he was afraid! He wasn't scared, he wasn't scared of anything! "I'm not afraid you!" He yelled, looking strait into Zero's wide,… 'Huh?'… trembling eyes that were filled with uncertainty… 'He's seirous…'… and depression that shouldn't have been there. There was no reason for him to doubt him, there was no reason to start getting sad, there were plenty of things he felt about Zero, fear wasn't one of them, and he was going to be damn sure Zero knew it. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"…" Zero only rolled his eyes and looked away, his eyes narrowed, feigning annoyment.

Zero wasn't exactly the best actor in the world, at lest not to Blues, the Navi was starting to read him better then he'd like to admit. 'Damn liar.' Zero shouldn't lie, he didn't strike Blue's as the lying type. "I'm not afraid of you."

Zero slowly turned his eyes back towards Blues, a slow, silent pause that meant to much to be awkward. Zero finally blinked, his expression remaining firm, but a small hopeful inquiring came to his voice. "Your… not?"

"Hell no."

Zero grabbed Blues' shoulders, slipping his knee underneath Blues' torso and then kicked the navi off. "Ow!"

Blues landed on his back, the armor around his body sounding with an audible clatter when he hit the ground. "What, you're a whiner now too?"

Zero rolled on to his stomach and launched on to his feet, diving forcefully on top of Blue's hard enough to knock the breath from the navi's lungs before grabbing a hold of his shoulders and pinning him down. "No, what would I whine about, you don't even hit hard." Zero smirked, looking down at Blues with either amusement or victory, it was hard to distinguish.

It was still much to smug for Blues' liking.

Blues reached up and slammed his head into Zero's forcefully, their helmets smashed together with a loud clash, knocking Zero backs off of his body and on to his back. Almost immediately after he lifted his hand to the point of impact with a sharp hiss of pain, maybe that wasn't a good idea, a little too brash then his normal actions. 'Owww…Damnit!'

"Uunnn." Zero landed on his back and rolled over with the sharp pain throbbing through his body, slipping his fingers underneath the helmet and rubbing his forehead. "Damn." With a wince of pain, Zero lifted the helmet half way off the golden strands of long hair, revealing his forehead.

"Huh?" Wait…something wasn't… why did he feel wetness? 'What…What the hell…?' He dipped his fingers into the wetness and slowly lowered it to eye level, it was blood, blue blood…Navi's didn't bleed, the only thing that bled was… that monstrosity the '201102' virus, it bled that same blue blood.

It wasn't really blood, it was damaged and corrupted data that fragmented after the virus was attacked, and it streamed out, it was lost from the virus, and appeared as blood.

This is what was happening now, navies didn't do this. "Oh…oh crap."

Blues didn't quite see what Zero was looking at, but he did see that look on his face, and hear those words. 'What's wrong with him? There's no way I hurt him that bad.' "What?"

Zero slowly raised his hand to his helmet and pushed it back down into place, wiping away the small amount of blood discreetly, moving as normally as he could so he didn't allot suspicion. This wasn't a big deal, this wasn't a big deal at all, he already knew he was half virus, his shouldn't surprise him. 'This shouldn't surprise me.' It really shouldn't have… "Nothing, nothing." Yeah, it was nothing.

! - ! - !

Lan pushed opened the door halfway and peeked his head inside, glancing around the familiar room, the familiar empty room. "Huh?" Lan stepped inside and looked around, as if maybe he'd see Enzan the second time. "Where'd he go?" Lan sat down on the bed, beside the oddly silent P.E.T Enzan has left. It was…unusual, there was always some argument between them, some disgruntle disagreement. Not this time, it was just quiet. "Blues? Zero? Are you guys alright?"

"Fine." Blues said directly and simply, as he always did.

"Lan." Zero smiled when he saw the boy had arrived, clearly happy to see him. He was always happy to see Lan. "Have a good day?"

Lan shrugged, slipping his hands behind his head and letting his back fall on to the soft bed lazily. "It was ok, I guess." He shrugged, his eyes fixing themselves on the white tiles of the ceiling. He didn't even feel like recanting it to himself, it was that lifeless.

Zero scratched his head absentmindly, "What, was it boring or something?"

"Yeah, it was." Lan sighed, he lifted his hand and scratched at the fresh bandages wrapped around the gash that spanned his forehead. These bandages were always itchy, especially the new ones, eventually they became soaked with blood, inevitably sinking into the wound and seemed to grow attached, and the itching stopped. But by then they had to be replaced, Lan hated the tedious task. "My dad made me go to the doctor…"

"Because you passed out the other day?" Zero asked, as soon as the subject was mentioned a worry rose up in him that peaked his attention beyond what was warranted.

"Yeah." Lan retorted with annoyment, "My dad was working on Megaman, and Enzan was stuck here. Thanks for coming with me Zero." Lan barely had to ask Zero to come with him, he seemed intent of going with Lan most every chance he got. It was like he was a typical Navi, though it didn't feel that way to Lan, it felt different from that. Which was probably because it was different.

Zero had a freedom that was unfounded in complex programs such as navies, he could leave the P.E.T any time he wanted to and move around to practically anything. Though so far he only went to one place, which was to Blue's P.E.T. Which came to the next reason Zero felt different then a normal navi, Zero was deathly afraid of moving about, even though he could contain himself without infecting anything, he was always afraid he might. Zero was amazingly adamant on not going when Megaman wanted to show him places of interest on the Internet, or show him around so he could learn about things. To the point where he became depressed about it.

'It must be tough having two sides of yourself that naturally hate each other.' Lan thought to himself. One side that destroyed, maliciously altered and corrupted data, and the other that created and pacified malicious data. 'I don't even wanna know what must be going on in his head.' Or his body for that matter, he really felt sorry for Zero, it was surprising the only thing that happen to him was a few phases of depression.

"No problem." Zero said. "What'd they do anyway?"

"Ran some test or whatever." Lan said, waving his hand dismisatively , "They took some of my blood and gave me new stitches." Even as he spoke he was scratching his bandages with an audible rustling, damn things, there were so annoying. 'What do they make these things out of anyway!' "Boring."

"As long as your alright, right?" Zero said cheerfully, "There's no harm in doing a few tests."

"Yeah, maybe." Lan took in a deep breath and yawned, his eyes drifting closed lazily. "Where's Enzan?"

Zero glanced over at Blues, who only sat there silently, which could only mean he didn't know. "I have no idea, he left a while ago."

Enzan left his room, Lan knew that could only mean that the stoic boy was just as bored as he was. When Enzan was bored he tended to wander around aimlessly, he paid less attention to where he was going when he was thinking, which he also tended to do when he was bored, and Lan couldn't help but notice how massively large this hospital was, and that was on the outside. "Oh great, I'll never find him now." Lan clinched his head with a small whine, Enzan had an infinitely better sense of direction then him, he'd probably just get lost… "Zero, Blues, you guys have a good memory, can you guys come with me so… I uh… don't get lost?"

Zero of course nodded without hesitation, then looked inanely looked over to Blues with a smile, but some how personified smile. "Blues?"

"No." The navi said simply and without contest.

"Aww, come on." Zero move behind him, peaking over Blue's shoulder. "It'll be better then sitting around here."

Blues folder his arms and pulled away. "Says you."

"How'd you know, you never wanna go anywhere." Zero slipped past Blue's side and planted himself in front of the Navi. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"You know what will really be fun?" Blues asked with a sarcastic friendliness. "If you went and left me the hell alone."

Zero sighed in an subjugated slump, throwing up his hands in defeated, "Alright, I'll make a deal, if you come with us this time, I'll leave you alone for a whole week." He said, his voice quirking in an enticing manner.

Blues seemed a little more interested now, and his face showed it. "…Fine."

Zero grinned softly and rested his elbow on Blues shoulder, leaning towards him happily. "Great."

Lan laughed softly to himself, picking up Enzan's P.E.T and setting it on his waist.

! - ! - !

"Alright…" Lan pulled the door to Enzan's room shut behind him and leaned against it, where was he suppose to go from here? "Where would he go…" Lan thought aloud, looking around the familiarly white hallways bright with florescent lights and clean with hospital standard scrutiny. The sheen was so clear Lan could see a distorted and blurry image of himself looking back. "I don't even know where to start!"

Lan felt like he should give up already, what would the purpose be?…until an idea came to mind. He looked down at the P.E.T on his waist, his face bright with enlightenment. "Zero! You can find him!"

"Huh?" Zero flinched at the sudden and excited mention of his name, and he immediately knew what Lan meant when he said that. Which was why it startled him. "What? Me?"

"Yeah." Lan nodded, picking up the P.E.T and looking down at the half-navi with an inspired look crossing his features. "There's cameras everywhere, if you go-"

"No way." Zero shook his head firmly, his expression adamantly firm but his voice was unsure.

"Huh?" Lan's face became puzzled and he scratched his cheek with his own uncertainty. "But why?"

"No." Zero denied again, closing his eyes, his head downcast. "I cant..."

Lan still didn't quite understand it, why didn't he want to do this? Why was he so…serious all of a sudden …"But you did it back on the Island, can't you do it again?"

"Yeah but…" Zero's voice trailed off, and he stared at the ground, avoiding Lan's eyes. "Those…that system was already infected, I don't…I don't want to-"

"Tch, your whining again." Blues's voice intervened, it seemed like he was thinking out loud rather then making a direct statement, sounding as if he was amused by Zero's reluctance, or just annoyed again by it.

Zero slowly lifted his head and looked towards Blues, the full navi standing beside him with that usual calm, indifference he always had about him. "I'm not whining." Zero snorted, looking away with anger.

"You are whining." Blues smirked. "Heh, and you called me afraid."

"I'm not afraid!" Zero growled back at him, but that energy that had flared up in anger seemed to be fade away as soon as he tried to explain himself. "I'm just…"

"Making excuses. You can't seriously be afraid of infecting anything can you?" Blues spoke in a somewhat condescending tone, asking a rhetorical question that he would except no answer too even if it was given.

Zero glared at the Navi angrily, he never understood it, how with out fail Blues could make him feel like a rambling idiot who couldn't string together a simple sentence. It was partially right at lest, he hadn't said a complete sentence yet. "You don't understand, I-"

"I'm completely aware." Blues snorted indifferently, "You can't go in this system do this but you can come in mine and bother me? Your just scared."

"Me!" Zero shouted, leaning toward Blues offensively, his face contorted in fury. "I'm not scared!"

Blues rolled his eyes and turned away. "Your stalling."

Zero's hands clinched into tight fist at his side, glaring at the back of Blues' head, growling furiously with no attempts to hide his discontent. "What! I am not-…" Zero paused in the middle of his own defense, and for the second time that look of anger gently faded into an impish smirk. "Alright Blues, I'll make you a deal, I'll go and do this if you come with me."

"What?" That wasn't a question Blues was expecting to hear, but immediately snorted and looked away in denial. "No."

"Huh?" Zero immediately ran pasted his side and slid to a stop in front of him, smirking with his own amusement. "What's wrong? Your not afraid are you?" He asked sarcastically.

Blues glared back at him, pushing Zero aside and walking past him. "You idiot, of course I'm not afraid."

Zero, as always, wouldn't give up so easily, he went after Blues, a fully smile showing at the sight of how flustered the navi was getting. "Really, then prove it. I'll show you just how afraid I am if you show me."

Blues sighed exasperatedly, his steps slowing to a stop with a small pause before turning back and looking fully at Zero. He didn't say anything at first, he just glared at the half navi angrily. But then…

"I knew it, you are afraid." Zero replied, seemingly satisfied proving himself right, at first glance at lest. Blues was about to yell at him for making the insulation, again, but Zero immediately snorted indifferently and walked away, dropping it completely.

'Damnit…' Blues mentally kicked himself and groaned with annoyment, why did this have to be so damn hard. Annoying bastard, why couldn't things be simple, why couldn't he just leave him alone, he'd be fine then, he wouldn't have to deal with all of this. 'Damn kid.' He snorted to himself before turning around. "Fine."

Zero stopped, looking back over his shoulder questioningly. "Huh? Really?"

"Yeah." Blues sighed in defeat, fine, he'd do it, and Damnit, Zero better be happy with it.

And he was.

A small smile edge at Zero's lips and he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. "Alright then." As if a vale was lifted, both pairs of Zero's wings appeared on his back, the black ones and the white ones overlapping, stretched out to full length.

Blues started off in to the empty distance with an angry annoyment as he felt Zero's chest press against his back, his chin resting on his shoulder, and his arms wrapped around his waist. "What are you doing?"

Zero rested his chin on Blues' shoulder, an impish smirk forming when he saw how uncomfortable it made him. That was always fun, making the stoic Blues shifty and awkward to the point of near embarrassment. "I have to carry you some how." He whispered, repressing a small laugh when he heard Blues groan angrily, but remain still when he usually would have resorted to violence.

Both pairs of wings flapped with one hard beat, ascending sharply into the air with Blues in toe. Blues didn't shout or make a single surprised sound as Megaman would have, it would have been satisfying, but Zero expected nothing less from the stoic navi.

"Hmm…" Lan scratched his bandages questioningly, staring down at the blank screen, "What was that about?" He felt like he was missing something here… "Zero…"

! - ! - !

"…" Blues was speechless, he didn't know what to make of what he was seeing, where he was, what he was actually doing. He was surrounded in a surreal blur, the same world, only so distorted that the only thing that really resided was light and shadow. Mixing together with the bare images of the walls and floor in a swirling reality, as if everything had been poured together and stirred in a melding pot. And Blues was in the middle of it, feeling a sense of weightlessness and nothingness, a void around him. The only thing anchoring him down, keeping his senses from scattering was the feel of Zero's embrace. "This…This is…"

"Pretty cool eh?" Zero said proudly. "What's the word for it, when you don't have cords?"

"Wireless?"

"Yeah that's it, completely wireless."

Blues nodded distractedly, taking in everything, "And you can…you can do this anytime you want?"

Zero smiled, looking curiously over Blues face, he'd imagined such an amazed expression could exist on the usual cold slate. "Sure can, I can take you anywhere you wanna go." Zero said. "Complete Freedom."

"This is…I've never seen anything like this." Blues couldn't describe it, it was as scary as it was astounding. "If you can do this any time you want, why don't you, there are millions of places you can do, and see."

"I can't go into other systems without permission, that's what viruses do."

Blues looked around, it was all the same yet different at the same time. 'Virus huh…" Damn, why was Zero so strange? "Yet you come in and bother me all the time? Isn't that hypocritical?"

"Heh, heh, well, not for a while after this it's not." Zero said. "Your rid of me for a week, remember."

"I can't wait."


	17. Chapter 16: A week part 1

Chapter 16: A week part 1

Day one.

To be rid of him for a week, to be devoid of Zero's presence completely, when the half virus had said that it sounded like Zero was about to give Blues an early birthday present.

Sure it sounded good, but he had to admit, he didn't expect Zero to actually go through with it. He'd made deals with Zero before of a similar nature...well, more like threats, but regardless of what they were they had all been failed attempts, why did he listen this time? Well...he had detect a seriousness when Zero had offered it to him, giving him something he knew he wanted simply to go with him. Zero seemed to have some inane need to confirm some notion deep down inside of him that there was something wrong with him.

Though still, he hadn't expected it when he woke up on his own, not under Zero's influence. It seemed like such a long time ago, a time when he wasn't brought back to consciousness by Zero's loud voice and hard shaking.

There was always something with him, and it aggravated Blues to no avail.

It was not just the fact that he seemed to have some hole in him that could only be filled with criticism among other negative things. And he acted strangely sometimes, it wasn't annoying, it was just...odd. Blues knew what type of person Zero was, annoying yes, but weird, no, and over time he'd seen Zero act in some strange ways. Blues grunted, folding his arms and crossing his legs, "Annoying Bastard." He grunted with annoyment. If he never hated Zero before, then he hated him now! For the first time in a whole he wasn't here, and some how Zero had manage to be the first thing on his mind when he woke up.

No, Zero was annoying, but he wasn't odd, and with his behavior becoming increasingly such Blues was starting to think there was something wrong. He found a stirring curiosity growing with in him every time he saw the half virus, and it some how seemed to grow deeper then a curiosity every time he saw Zero behaving strangely, it was so annoying!

Like when he was talking to Zero, and all of a sudden he just started looking around, like he wasn't even there. Then he'd get this confused look on his face, even though Blues was fairly certain that Zero knew what he was talking about, as much as he questioned himself some times, he knew Zero was a fairly competent person, he certainly wasn't stupid. He just acted like it.

Blues' face twisted into a questioning, he felt that deeper feeling hinting at him again, something he knew was beyond, stronger then curiosity. Dammit! This was so annoying! He hated this! His first free day and all he could think about was how strange Blues was! "..." Blues shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts of Zero.

And there were times when it was completely silent, mainly because he was ignoring Zero, and all of a sudden he just started looking around and talking to himself. What was that about? And then there were other times when he acted suspiciously, like he was trying to hide something.

Blues shook his head and scowled, he didn't understand him at all. He startled to feel almost happy that he didn't have to deal with it for a full week...no, not almost, he was happy. He didn't have to see that annoying smile of his, or hear that annoying voice. "..." Blues snorted, his stomach swelled with an oddly guilty feeling. "Goddamnit..." He grimaced, his eyes narrowing. Ok...well, it wasn't the smile that was annoying, it was when he showed it. It was always when he was the angriest at him, always when he was a few words from striking him, he always smiled, finding some amusement that he himself couldn't see. How can a person just stop being angry like that? It was aggravating! And it wasn't his voice that Blues found fault with, most definitely was the words.

'Tch. Doesn't matter, I wont have to deal with it.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Day 2

The heat of golden sunlight shined through the window with a warm breeze that blew the white curtains away forward off of the wall in a graceful flow. A faint conscious that had been spurred in the mists of Lan's sleep had sensed the abundance of light that had grown from a dim ray to a flood that illuminated the room. He wasn't sure how long it had been since then to now when golden light had finally reached his bed and shined on to his face.

Lan's closed eyes squinted with a soft sigh and he shifted around in the bed slightly, becoming aware again of the warm covers on top of him, then of his position messily sprawled out over the bed. "...Annng..."With a soft groan he opened his eyes, but quickly clinched them shut again to block out the blinding light. The notion came to him that if he was taking up so much space, where was Megaman sleep? "Oh man..." He mumbled, half aware that this wasn't just a thought, that he was speaking aloud. "I hope he's not on the floor again..." Lan peak one eye open and looked around. His P.E.T was resting on his desk, displaying 201102 as it always did when Zero wasn't there, Megaman was beside him buried underneath the cover, curled into a tight ball as to take up little space.

"Unn..." Lan slowly lifted his arm and draped it over his forehead, shutting out the light completely. 'I wonder what time it--' "!" Lan flinched with a startled gasp as a strong bout of dizziness rose in his mind all at once, it didn't build or grow, it exploded on to his body so sharply it was as if he was struck with a blow from behind. "Ahhh..." he hissed with pain, Lan sat upright abruptly enough to throw the covers of of himself. The world was spinning before his eyes, like a storm raging over the ocean the world was up towards in in a hard and strong wave, crashed on top of him and receded, he couldn't even tell which way was up. "!"

"?" Megaman was spurred out of his sleep by the loud sound and fleeting warmth of the covers leaving his body. "...Lan?" Megaman's sleepy green eyes drifted upward and his vision was saluted with the sight of an en pained Lan.

Lan's hands fumbled over his body blindly, as if it was all new to him, until they wrapped around his chest with all of his strength. He felt nauseous, so strongly he could barely speak without feeling like whatever was in his stomach would find it's way out of his mouth. "Annnn..." He grunted, and whatever balance he had was pried from in in the spinning world. "!" Before he knew it he was falling to the side and landed curled up opposite of Megaman. _Ugurp_

"!" And to Megaman's dismay he found himself facing another glitch, his body seemed to be locked like stiff muscles. It took him nearly a full minute to uncurl from the ball and sat up right. "Lan, what's wrong?" Megaman felt almost a panic burn through him, fumbling around in confusion until he realized there was nothing he could do at the moment, he didn't even know what was wrong.

"Di..zzy." Lan took in a deep breath and tried to drive back the nausea, tried to ride out the disorientation, but a surge of pain knocked him off balance. '!' "Ahhha!" Lan moaned loudly, before he could get to loud he sucked in air with a hiss of pain and bit down on to his lip. It blindsided him, a strong pain in his head flaring up like a small flame that had just been dounced in gasoline.

Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan's waist and pulled him up right, almost immediately Lan grabbed on to his shoulder and fell into Megaman's chest. "Lan, are-"

"My head...it hurts."Lan grunted weakly, his hands tightened desperately against Megaman's shoulder, so dizzy he couldn't see beyond twisting and obscured blurs. Then all at once he pushed Megaman away and scrambled forward, managing to climb to his hands and knees. The pain made him want to curl up into a ball and stop moving, but the nausea was much too strong, Lan moved forward blindly, but was so dizzy that he stumbled and fell into Megaman's lap. He didn't stop there, Lan nearly clawed, frantically attempting to pry himself forward by grabbing on to anything.

Megaman watched in confusion as Lan stumbled painfully off the bed, hard enough to make him pause and groan. "Lan!" Megaman winced as if he'd felt the same pain and climbed off of the bed, dropping to his knees beside the fallen Lan. He wrapped his arms around him again and helped him on to his knees ,looking over him with a pang of worry tearing guilty through him. Lan grabbed on to the door frame and pried himself to his feet, making little more noise then his harsh breathing, he stumbled out of his room and into the hallway, Megaman following behind.

"!" Lan felt like the world was twisting and turning around him, making it hard for him to go strait, he felt his shoulder brush roughly against the wall and he pushed away. But he got only a few steps before he lost his balance, but Megaman reached out and caught him just as he faltered. Lan regained himself and pushed away, finally simply clinching his eyes shut and running forward as fast as he could before fell again. This time he found himself stumbling against the bathroom sink. He felt like something was bubbling inside of him, and the small pockets of air were pushing their way out.

"Lan what are you trying to-" Megaman flinched when he heard Lan begin coughing, violent, choked sputters. He could hear the boy attempting to breath, but every time he tried another cough choked it's way out. Megaman knelt down beside Lan and rubbed his back softly, breathing a sigh of relief when he heard the coughing dull away into hard, gasping breathes.

Lan felt the intense, pounding headache ease and fade away, as well as the dizziness and the nausea. "I-I think I'm ok now." He said, his eyes still clinched tightly while his breath was returned to him.

"..."

'?' Lan glanced back over his shoulder and opened his eyes, Megaman was holding an uneasy silence. "Megaman, what's-" Lan turned his head to look into the mirror, but something else caught his eye and he looked down instead. The sink was splattered with a spray of blood, the faucet, the wall, and the floor around it. "Whoa..." He wasn't sure what to say.

"Lan, I should go-"

"No." Lan shook his head adamantly, "Don't tell my parents. Not yet." He pleaded.

Megaman slowly climbed to his feet, nervously stepping to the side as Lan scrambled to the door and closed it, leaning his back against it nervously. Then he looked back at the sink with a hesitancy. "Lan this isn't something that I can just hide."

"Come on please." Lan pleaded, looking up at Megaman desperately. "I'm not talking about hide it..." He felt almost a shame in this, he didn't want to tell his parents, they would worry, they'd make a big deal out of it. He didn't want that, and he knew they'd take him to the hospital, and he wouldn't be practically confined to his room like Enzan was. Then he wouldn't be able to go and see him, among other things. Maybe he was being stupid, it wouldn't be the first time, but out of a particular sense of shame of his current condition, he wanted to keep it as much as himself as possible. "Just-"

"Lan, this is not nothing!" Megaman exclaimed, "You need to go to the hospital."

"I feel fine now." Lan said, a poor defense, he knew, but it had to mean something. "And besides, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, what's a day?" Lan looked up at Megaman hopefully, begging him, "Please?"

Megaman looked away with a conflicted expression, he wanted to go along with it, he really did, he knew it would make him happy, at lest happier then he was right now. But at the same time he was afraid for Lan, what if, what if this happened again? What if he really needed to go? What if it couldn't wait until the morning? But likewise, what if it could? He'd never seen that happen to Lan before, not this strongly, not with blood. But what if a day would make no difference either way, he could give him that much? "...I...I-I Uh..." Megaman held his head down, feeling as if he had just coincided defeat, he knew he shouldn't have, but..."O-ok..."

Lan smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank you." Lan slowly lifted his arm and wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist, his eyes fixed on the blood for a moment, the on the sink. He could still taste the metallic twinge of the warm liquid, it tasted bitter to him, more so then it actually was. "Oh man, this place is a mess."

Megaman took in a deep breath, well, he was in this now, and it would be no point in promising Lan he wouldn't say anything if his Father came in and blood everywhere. "Don't worry Lan, we can clean it up." He said, gently rubbing Lan's back. His eyes were drawn to the bandages around Lan's head, the front was stained with wet patches of fresh red, quick and dry the memory of Lan coughing up the same blood 'Maybe that was why he was so dizzy...' "But first we have to change your bandages."

"Huh?" Lan looked up questioningly, slowly lifting his hand to his forehead and feeling the familiar dampness. "Oh, don't worry about it." He shook head discardingly, thinking nothing of it.

But Megaman shook his head, looking down at him chastisingly. "Lan."

Lan sighed and dropped his head. "But Megaman-"

"No way." Megaman shook his head firmly, there was only so much he could take. He was more worried about Lan then he'd ever been in his life, his stomach sank with guilt and an unbearable concern as it was. He had to at lest do this. Without another thought Megaman turned and slipped open the door, listening to Lan's quite protests but paying them no heed as he shut the door. He rain with quick, hurried steps toward Lan's room down the hall. There was a small exhale with relief if when he made it without hearing so much as a sound. "Alright, where is it..." Megaman began digging through Lan's desk, he knew there was some gauze here, somewhere.

"Megaman?"

Megaman glanced over at the P.E.T resting on the desk, usually he would have been scared by the call of his name so abruptly when he was attempting to be inconspicuous. But Zero's voice always sounded familiar to him, not sharp and distinct as the voice of others, but like a thought in his head. "Zero? Where were you?"

"Nowhere...where's Lan?" Zero asked questioningly.

Megaman pulled a roll of bandages from the second drawer and stood up right, nudging it shut. "Uh well, Lan...he..." Megaman looked up thoughtfully, he wasn't sure how to say this the right way, Lan wasn't sick, or at lest he didn't look so, he didn't seem hurt, as far as anyone could really tell. "He got dizzy and a little sick I guess."

"Is he alright?"

"Why don't I just let him tell you." Megaman decidedly picked up the P.E.T, warming silence as he slipped out of Lan's room and trudge down the hall. Thankfully with no sign of Lan's parents. With another satisfied breath of relief he slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Zero looked around in a confused horror, for a moment he was speechless, this wasn't the sight he was expecting,not at all. Immediately his thoughts turned to Lan, "Lan? This was Lan? Is he alright?"

"I'm fine." Lan said with a discarding wave, sitting listlessly against the side of the tub. He reached up and Megaman gave him toe P.E.T, leaning leaning forward as Megaman slipped behind him and sat on the edge of the tub. "Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure, because I'll know if your lying." Zero said accusingly, but his voice held a downward tone of worry.

"Heh. I'll live." Lan smirked a little, he was sure that Zero and Megaman would make certain of that. He complied willingly when he felt Megaman push his head down. "Where were you?"

Megaman slowly and carefully loosened the bandages, his eyes narrowed and his face tightened in concentration as he began unwinding the bandages as delicately as he could. He moved slowly, especially when he was striping the fabric away from Lan's fore head.

"Nowhere." Zero said with a bored sigh, he wasn't lying when he said nowhere. He'd awakened and left his PET simply because he was so use to doing it. It wasn't nearly as fun when he was alone, or wasn't looking forward to going to a particular destination.

"Nowhere?" Megaman lifted his head questioningly. "Your not going to see Blues today."

Lan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Wait, don't tell me your actually going through with that?"

Zero sighed and nodded, "Yeah. I'm not going anywhere near him."

Megaman stripped away another layer of the bandages, coming down to the last one. "Go through with what?" It became a little harder to move them now, they stuck to Lan's skin, plastered by a seemingly constant flow of blood.

"He and Blues made a bet, a deal or whatever that Zero would leave him alone for a week." Lan explained, "But I didn't think you guys were serious about it." Lan winced, a small hiss of pain slipping from clinched lips as a jolt shot through him from his head. "Ow."

"Sorry." Megaman apologized tensely, as he gently pulled away the bandage from the wound, it stuck to the healing flesh that seemed to be trying to grow over it. As much as he tried he couldn't strip it away without hurting him. "Sorry about this." Lan clinched his eyes shut and yanked the last of the bandage off with one, swift pull.

'!' Lan clamped a hand over his mouth an cringed, forcing himself to keep from screaming. His eyes watered and a few stray tears slipped out, but he quickly wiped them away. "Ow..."

"I'm sorry." Megaman leaned forward, tilting Lan's head back to study the wound, he could barely see it for all of the blood that now seeped freely without the bandage's constriction. "Isn't the bleeding suppose to stop after a while?"

"Huh?" Lan felt a sudden surge of curiosity run through him, maybe it was the way Megaman sounded when he said it, maybe it was the way his head was being held back like this. "What do you mean?"

Zero looked up thoughtfully. "Did it even get better?"

"What? What does it look like?" Lan slipped his head out of Megaman's hands and tried to look up into the mirror at any angle that would allow him to see himself. A small stream of blood dripped down the bridge of his nose. But before he could, Megaman pressed a towel against Lan's head and pushed it back.

"No you don't." Megaman slipped a hand underneath Lan's chin, balancing the towel over Lan's forehead while he reached down blindly and took the boy's, leading it up to the towel. Lan held it in place as Megaman began wiping the dried blood away, as well as the newly formed stream. "Just be still."

'?' Zero looked around uneasily as Megaman's and Lan's voices began to drift away from. 'Huh?"

_Ow, that hurts._

_I'm sorry, there's just so much of it._

'Wha...What's happening?' It was strange, Zero heard the conversation fading away from him, receding as if he was falling asleep. He felt like he was being pulled away from them, they looked distant, fading away, blurring into the background that had become little more then an obscured vision. 'Shit...' They were gone, their voice distorted echos he couldn't make out...'!' He winced and clamped his hands over his ears, clinching his eyes shut after a blazingly loud burst of chaotic static burst into his mind, and just as suddenly his vision was covered in static, it was like staring at a TV with no channel. 'D...Dammit!' He cringed, pushing tighter against his ears, trying to block out the sound.

_Zero?_

He heard a faint voice, Lan's maybe, peeking through the static, but it barely reached him and he could pay it no attention.

_Zero?_

"Unga..." He breathed weakly, his head didn't hurt, he felt no pain, only a loud clatter that made it impossible to think. It was like a war had just started inside of himself...

"Zero?"

All of a sudden the static faded and he heard Megaman's voice clearly, 'Huh?' It was almost as if Megaman had been the one to make the static stop? "Megaman?" He looked up, and immediately he could see some time had past since they had faded from him, Lan's head was clean with new bandages. That was strange, it had only felt like a minute or so.

Megaman leaned over Lan's shoulder and stared down at Zero. "Are you alright?"

Zero stiffened and rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Uh, yeah...just thinking." He lied.

"Oh. I thought I lost you there for a minute." Lan smiled, without knowledge he slipped his finger underneath the fresh bandages and scratched his head. 'I hate these things..' He never liked fresh bandages, they always itched. Tilted his head back into Megaman's lap and stared upward into the focused green eyes. "Please tell me your done?"

Megaman nodded, "Yeah." He said, resting his hands on Lan's shoulders for a moment before standing up. "I'm done...on to the next problem I guess." Well, after changing Lan's bandages, and cleaning his wounds, the sight of the blood spewed over the sink and surrounding wasn't as ominous as he first thought. "On to the next problem I guess, I'm not sure if we can do this well enough."

Lan took Megaman's hand and slowly climbed to his feet. "Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Your dad, he's like CSI, he never misses anything." Megaman felt his cheeks flush when he thought about the thoroughness of Lan's father, if there was anything that was wrong, he'd find it, or find out about it eventually. Megaman suddenly found their attempt to be inconspicuous completely futile and without hope, when had anyone ever successfully hidden anything from that man?

"It's not like it's impossible right?" Lan said hopefully. "I can get a few things over on him, I think we can do this."

"I don't know Lan." Megaman rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "He knows things."

"Then we're just going to have to work harder then." Lan interjected. "Nobody act suspicious, this place cant smell to clean after words, and we're gonna have to be really quiet." He said, as if it was a simple matter, like they could do it easily.

Megaman rubbed the back of his head with a sigh, everything he felt inside, his worry for Lan, his nervousness about all of this being discovered, all of it swirled together in a horrible mix. There were plenty of new things he felt since he got this body, things he'd never felt before, new types of pain that came in a way he'd never experienced. What he felt now, it was hard to describe, it made his stomach feel weak and the bottom of his throat quake, it was something deeper then worry. Maybe this was what it was like to feel nauseous, sick. "I guess." He hated it.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It had been harder then he'd thought to clean up Lan's mess. Megaman and Lan scrubbed the sink, and then got down and scrubbed the floor and the walls and what other surface the blood may have splattered on to. Megaman had thought that when he finished that they were actually finished, but Lan insisted that he could still smell a lingering scent. So they scrubbed some more, Megaman heedlessly complied, cleaning until Lan was satisfied. Now he was worried it smelled too clean. "No use thinking about it now I guess." Megaman sighed. He lay again under the warmth of the covers, his arms wrapped around Lan, the boy was pulled perfectively against his chest.

Megaman grinned wildly himself, a pleased content came over him, feeling as if he'd been waiting for this moment all of his life. The feeling of warm life, of Lan in his arms, feeling that he protecting him, even if only from something small, it gave him a sense of completion that he'd never had before.

It was still early, 7:30 now, a little over half an hour since Lan had come stumbling out of the bed. "What do you mean?" He asked softly, he was completely still, staring blankly at the wall without not seeing, his thoughts were distracted elsewhere. He'd never found use for laying in the bed like this when he wasn't sleepy, or planning on sleeping, and he never laid around like this otherwise. But he found a different quality to this non-action it this time, with Megaman holding on to in a way that made Lan question if the former Navi would ever let him go.

"Nothing." Megaman shook his head discardingly. It was the brightest day Megaman had seen in a long time, it seemed the heavy clouds had loosened enough for 12 hours of sunlight. The room was flooded with the golden illumination, shining brightly over them and the white sheets. As content as Megaman was, he couldn't help still being worried about Lan, even without remembering the image of Lan coughing up blood his mind still held the faint, underlaying thought that something of that nature would happen again. It fashioned his thoughts, every idea, every word was breed in a distant fear. "Um...Lan?" Megaman leaned forward, slipping his chin past Lan's shoulder, veering just enough to see the faintest glimmer of his brown eyes.

"Hmm?"

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to going anywhere today." Megaman said, his voice sounding as if what he was saying were a plan still being thought out. "I mean, maybe you should get some rest."

"..." Lan opened his mouth and took in a deep breath with a large yawn, one not out of sleepiness, but out of fatigue. "That might look really strange to my dad." Lan thought informatively, by the sound of his voice it didn't sound like he thought much of it, even though he was the one bringing up."

"Maybe." Megaman didn't particularly care at this point, Lan would think of some lie to tell him as to why, something, all he knew was that...

"Megaman?" Lan looked over his shoulder at the former navi, he could only stare with awe and fearing as Megaman's words drifted off and an utterly blank expression came on to his face, his eyes distracted with thought, his mouth still open slightly, as if he'd forgotten what he was doing. "Megaman?"

Megaman was silent for a few seconds... "?..." Then he simply shook his head, like what had just happened wasn't the least bit strange, and he offered no explanation, as if he had no idea he'd even stopped or what what he was talking about. "Huh? Yes Lan?"

Lan stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds more, his eyes searching Megaman's for something to do, something he could say? His face held an expression that would have told anyone who was paying attention that he'd just seen something strange, something he hadn't liked, but Megaman didn't seem to notice it. "Uh...Nothing." He turned and stared at the wall, what difference would it make anyway? Megaman couldn't do anything about it, he couldn't stop it, why make him worry over it. If he hadn't noticed it, Lan would let it be, he felt like it wasn't for him to understand yet, he was depending on his father to figure it out. "Hey Megaman?"

"Yes?"

"Can you...stay with me?" Lan asked, his voice was uncharacteristically timid when he spoke, like a person who was afraid to ask.

"Yeah, of course." Megaman said without hesitation.

Lan wasn't sure rest would work for this kind of problems, he knew nothing of Bio-machines, and he probably wouldn't understand it if someone told him. But he did know that Megaman became dizzy when he extorted himself physically, maybe rest wouldn't help, but it sure couldn't make it worse. "Thanks..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Day 3

He wouldn't miss him, that's what Blues had said to himself and everyone else, for going three days now and counting.

For the first time in his life, Enzan could remember every, agonizing second of the roughly 72 hour period, if only other things could stick with him so easily. Well, maybe that wouldn't be too realistic, the things he needed to remember had substance to them. When his birthday was, when Lan's birthday was for that matter, the exact contents of the preserving solution that had been sprayed on him when attempting to escape his probably half destroyed test company. Speaking of which, he really, really had to go back, there was no way in hell he'd let his Father test in him be failed so easily. Oh yeah, another thing he didn't remember, where his father was right now... 'Hmm...' Enzan wondered what the man had said when he heard the building his son was suppose to be running had blown up, if his father actually got around to visiting him for more then 5 minutes while working damage control he'd probably ask him. 'I can't blame him I guess, he was doing it for me.' Enzan said with a small shrug, since he had managed to blow the place up...or who's ever fault it was.

Oh yeah, here's a good one, Enzan also wished he could remember where he left his keys, he knew he'd had them when he'd woken up...Enzan really wished he could remember all of those math classes he'd taken, because this would take a lot of money to fix...'Where _are_ my keys?' Maybe he hadn't had his keys, maybe he dropped them back on the island?...No, better yet, Enzan wished he could remember how he'd gotten out of here without being noticed the first time.

But no matter, Enzan couldn't remember those things because they held some level of detail to them, and because he had to remember so much already. He never paid attention to people like he should have, there was always a few things he was thinking about no matter how hard he tried to give someone his full attention. His mind never seemed to listen to him, he felt like it acted on it's own accord, ironically enough when the stoic boy called for silence, or to focus, other thoughts always came flooding back. It was like trying to hold back a tidal wave. 'Why won't my head just shut up, why is that so hard?' Enzan thought aggrievedly. Maybe he couldn't remember other things as well as he should have, but the past three days he remembered well.

Because they all consisted simply of crushing boredom.

' I should get the hell out of here right now.' Enzan thought to himself, laying idly in his bed covered in clean white sheets. Surrounded by copiously clean white floors, and walls, and softly humming florescent lights. 'The doctors don't make rounds until 10. I can be well clear of hear by then. ' He honestly contemplated it for a moment, they couldn't stop him a third time, right? But just like the other times he thought about it over the past three days, he dropped his head and sighed in defeat. 'I couldn't do that, Zero would never find Blues again.' He never thought Zero would have so much barrings over his actions, but he never thought he liked Lan either.

"One more week." Enzan said. "One more week and I'm getting the hell out of here, no matter what anybody says."

"No your not." Blues snorted with clear disregard, as if he knew Enzan was making an idle threat.

He wasn't. "Tch, the hell I'm not." Enzan said, he lifted his left leg and let it slip off the side of the bed, feeling the numbing pain of the limb falling asleep. Another reason he was starting to hate this place, he laid idle for far too long. Enzan slowly lifted his hand to his left arm and scratched the bandages there in an attempt to soothe the itchy wounds underneath, he hated new bandages over old wounds, it always itched. His eyes were fixed on the IV pouring a numbing medication into his veins. If there was anything he'd miss, it was the numbing medications.

"Yeah right, if you were going to go you wouldn't have gone already." Blues accused, knowing that Enzan wasn't an idle person, he never wasted time on things. But he did, however, procrastinate, he took on more then he or his memory could handle more times then he should have. This idea would get lost like so many forms, tasks, meetings, appointments, and objects, it never failed. Blues wasn't sure in what it would get lost in, but what he was sure that Enzan would find a way to forget, he always did.

"I'm waiting." Enzan said, his tone correcting. Enzan slowly pushed his other stiff leg over the side of the bed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on to his knees and dropping his head.

"Waiting for what? Lan?" Blues inquired.

Enzan lifted his head, Lan, he hadn't thought of Lan? Dammit! Why couldn't he remember that? How come he didn't think of Lan of all people? "No, for Zero actually." This time he'd been thinking more of his Navi then himself, Blues looked to be suffering jut as much as he was. He could see it in the looks on Blues' face, the way he moved, the sudden restlessness.

Blues felt something inside of him jump, yet he was too confused to attempt to decipher why. Why would Enzan wait for Blues? Was he planing on taking him with him? "Zero?" Blues tilted his head to the side questioningly and his tone lightened without him having realized it.

Enzan smirked, yeah, just as he thought. "Couldn't leave with out telling him now could we?" He said, trying to stifle his amusement.

Blues folded his arms and looked away in distaste. "Yes, I'd recommend it in fact."

Enzan slowly lifted himself to his feet, feeling more as if he were on lifeless extensions then on his own legs, he felt like he was standing on stilts. He nearly lost his balance, Enzan quickly reached back and caught himself. "No way." He would have smirked if he wasn't wondering why he lost feeling in his legs when he stood up.

"You shouldn't leave ." Blues folded his arms and looked away, as if he had no regard for the subject, just stating a simple fact. "Your not well enough to go anywhere."

"The hell with that." Enzan ignore the feeling and took a few pacing steps forward toward the window, staring outward longingly. He missed the light, crisp, moist air outside, and the warmth of the uninhibited sunlight, the feel of wind and the sound of life moving around him. He couldn't expect Blues to understand the agony of being trapped in one place, Enzan didn't know why he felt like he'd lost his freedom, like he was locked in and would never get out. He'd stayed in hotel rooms for longer periods then this, why did he feel so...cornered now? This feeling was growing, he remembered when he could ignore it, now it was always there, every moment he was in this room. He had to get out of here."I'm fine enough."

Blues watched with a silent anticipation, as if he was about to be pushed off of a bridge and waiting for the fall. It was an anxiousness that came about when he watched Enzan slowly walk towards the door, a deep nervousness that sank in his stomach with discontempt and made him unusually aware of his heartbeat and breathing. It was like what he started to feel when he thought about Blues as of late. "Enzan..."

'?' Enzan looked down as the same strange numbness spread through his torso like a cold chill, he felt like the ground was vibrating under his feet, sending small tremors through his lower body like shockwaves...No, that wasn't the ground... that was his muscles trembling, as if trying to hold a load much too much to bare. A weakness spread through both legs, right before Enzan collapsed and found himself sinking to his knees with waning strength. 'Dammit...' He felt a frustrated anger burn through him, this never used to happen to him before! How was it possible that he could actually be getting worse! It didn't feel possible, he'd realized it somewhere in him, but his mind refused to accept it and pushed the thought away, like this was just some odd quirk that would pass after he got some rest. "..."

"And that's why you can't leave." Blues told him in a tone that derived no satisfaction from being right. He was worried about Enzan, he could admit that.

Enzan grunted as he grabbed on to the bed and pulled himself to his feet, when he stood this time he felt that same throbbing pain in a single leg that caused a limp to creep into his form. "Aw shut up." He spat, climbing on to the bed and slowly shifting himself back into the same spot he'd been in before. It was almost a shame that he felt at his weakness, that made him bitterly embarrassed, too embarrassed to tell his doctor for fear that he'd end up being here longer. And fear of telling Lan because he knew the boy would worry.

Speaking of Lan... "I wonder where Lan is?" He asked in a half mumble, shifting the conversation back into safer fields.

"..." Blues didn't respond, when he thought of Lan, he thought of Megaman, and when he thought of Megaman, he couldn't help but think of that obnoxious idiot Zero.

Enzan smirked to himself, but quickly shook his head, knowing that Blues was thinking of Zero. It was the only time he got that look on his face. "You miss him?"

Blues snorted defensively. "Hell no."

"I didn't say who." Enzan said, his voice smug with amusement, "I could have been talking about Megaman."

Blues glared at him, then looked away. He wasn't missing Zero, he'd told himself and everyone else that he wouldn't. But he hated the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about him. It wasn't continuous, the times when he thought about Zero were far in-between, but they seemed frequent. Whenever it was silent for a long stint of time the half-virus would come into his mind.

'Dammit.' Blues rolled his eyes an annoyment. It seemed he found his mind drifting strait to Zero's odd behavior again, it was like a challenge that sat there in front of him, taunting him, daring him to figure it out. Why did he behave so strangely? Why did he mumble to himself, saying negative things at that, sometimes? Why did he just drift off when they were talking? Why did he just go off, looking around, talking like someone else was there? Why did he always act like he was hiding something, with that nervous laugh and that smile, the only time it came uneasily ... Blues felt that anxiousness again, the same one he'd just felt when he watched Enzan, knowing he would stumble and fall, he knew something was off with Zero. He just didn't realize it until now.

A strong desire rose within him, something like curiosity, only more deeply rooted, stronger. A yearning to ask, to know, to figure the seemingly simple Zero out, like a child that saw something he simply had to reach out and touch, something that drew the child towards it. 'Damn you idiot, what the hell do you think your trying to hide?'

Ok...maybe he was a little worried, even if it was so small he barely knew it was there.

'No I'm not.'

But he wouldn't admit it, some strong sense of bitter pride was there, that made him feel like he was losing, like he was doing something wrong by acknowledging that he may have been worried. He lied to protect himself without having even knowing it.

! - ! - !


	18. Chapter 17: A week part 2

Chapter 17:A week part 2

Day 3...still.

"Well, you look well Zero." Tadashi said with a pleasant familiarity, his voice was as content as if he was doing a favorable task.

Zero looked up curiously, that was an odd question, something somebody asked when a person _hadn't_ look well in the past. Why would he ask that? Had he been acting strangely before? Was there something out of place in his behavior? Had he been doing something before that seemed out of the ordinary, out of character, something that he might define as strange? "Why do you say that Tadashi?" By then, after all of those thoughts, his voice held a shaky nervousness, he felt like he was being paranoid.

Tadashi paused glanced at Zero from the corner of his eyes, "No reason really." he said with disregard.

Zero watched as Tadashi sleepily trudged across the kitchen floor, stretching his arms high above his head, his mouth prying open wide with a sleepy yawn. Then he trudged barefoot across the kitchen floor, dressed in nothing more then a pair of white shorts and an open white button up shirt, which he probably slept in. Zero began to notice certain, fleeting features of the man that made him resemble Lan more then just as an older, familiar shadow of the boy. The only time when the familiarities of the serious man were so strong were in the mornings. "Long night?"

Tadashi looked amusingly at the P.E.T resting on the kitchen table. "More like an early morning." He began his normal morning ritual of digging through the cabinets to find the ever elusive coffee. "Geez..."

Zero watched the man shift around with a childish clumsiness, a man who he knew to be very organized was moving in a very unorganized way. He smiled and laughed softly. "Hehe, I never figured you were the person to lose something a lot."

"Mornings I guess." He yawned. Tadashi reached up and pulled open the cabinet above the stove, rummaging through it messily, the jerky movements of his arms as he tried to reach behind the first row of objects on the bottom self nearly knocked a few items over. "I don't know what it is, every morning I find the coffee and I try to put it back in the same place..but it turns I put it some place completely different." His heels extended off the ground and he lifted on to his toes, his arms extending full length, fumbling blindly around the top shelf beyond his height for a round canister he knew well. 'Damn...why are you hiding from me?'

Zero grinned, once again finding Lan's resemblance in his father, such an action in such clothing holding such a sleepy demeanor. With Tadashi being such a smart, professional, fatherly person with such a sober, stern nature, it felt almost...special in a sense, seeing Tadashi so casual, defenseless, at ease. It was almost like Tadashi was comfortable enough to leave himself open in front of him where he carried an air of reserve with others. He laughed delightedly.

Tadashi looked back at Zero with a curious look on his face. "What's so funny?"

"I never realized you were so short." Zero laughed, pointing at him tauntingly, hiding none of his happiness with Tadashi's limitation. He had some how thought that no flaw was to be found in Tadashi, he'd never seen a single fault in him. Now that he found one he could only laugh. "It's funny."

Tadashi shook his head and looked up at the top shelf again, his eyes barely coming over the top of the holding. "I'm not that short." He said with a light defensiveness. "This cabinet was always high." He was beginning to see the absurdity of him placing a commonly used item in a place he couldn't reach, but on the other hand, the fact that he lost track of such an object was just as absurd. "Certainly I can remember a simple thing as this..." Tadashi inched his way higher on to his toes, trying to extract more out of his hight then his balance allowed, he nearly fell

Zero just watched anxiously as the man stumbled forward a step, wishing for a quick second that he was there to catch the man if he did fall. But Tadashi didn't and he began grinning wildly again. "You really are short."

Tadashi gave him a chastising look and closed the cabinet, looking around blankly, "For goodness sake..."

"Why don't you just set the timer at night?" Zero asked simply?

"I don't know, I always seem to forget." Tadashi smiled nervously, embarrassed by his uncharacteristic fault of memory. The mornings, it was the only plausible reason he could find for it, it must have just been fatigue and grogginess. "Strange isn't it?" Tadashi rubbed the back of his head and laughed lightly at himself and his own seemingly unlikely falt.

Yes, he could see where Lan got it from. Zero realized Tadashi was simply an older, smarter prelude of Lan, the boy carried all of his bad traits, only magnified. The man still had a personal, casual side that he kept repressed for the side that was more matured of his age. But Zero saw that he let that side slip away at times, especially in the mornings, when he was more of himself then ever. The fact he kept it locked away so well made Zero all the more glad Tadashi was more himself around him. He smiled contently. "Yeah, kinda."

Tadashi yawned again and fixed his glasses, sleepy brown eyes scanning the room, trying to examine how well he knew himself so that he could figure out where he would have placed it. He tilted his head back thoughtfully, slipping a hand into his open shirt and griping his bare shoulder for absents of pockets in the short he was wearing. "Hmm..."

"Why do you want it so bad?" Zero asked. "If it's that hard to find, why don't you just forget it? Why bother?"

"I wish it was that easy." Tadashi said, the thoughtful expression remaining on his face. "I'll never be able to wake up without it. I'll be sluggish and groggy all day."

Zero could detect the slurring grogginess in his voice and see it clearly on his face. It reminded him of Lan, who was not surprisingly still asleep since it was early by his standards, who seemed to have the same problem. Though he had to admit Tadashi had far more motivation, even in his sloppiness he had a bare sense of organization brought on by experience. "I guess..."

"Maybe I should just...Oh wait." A flash of enlightenment spread across his face and he abruptly walked over to the refrigerator, stretching his arm over the top and blindly fumbling around the items neatly stacked there.

"Maybe you should get a chair or something." Zero said, a part of him expected the man to do so, because it was what he'd seen Lan do so many times. He reminded him of Lan so much at the moment, the expressions on his face, the slump in his form. "That's what Lan always does."

Tadashi had never considered himself short, always normal height, since he was at a normal height. And their was no way he'd start thinking otherwise now, doing something as childish as getting a chair so that he could reach would imply that he was. He smiled in a youthful manner as he caught a bare glimpse of what he sought."Ah, here it is." He laid his hand on the round canister containing the coffee he sought after. He's smile grew satisfied and began going about the second part of his daily ritual of going over to the coffee maker and preparing it.

"If you need it so much. Why don't you just let me remind you?" Zero suggested, knowing he wouldn't forget nearly as easily, and happy to help the man, even in some small way.

"..." Tadashi looked up from where his eyes were fixed on the counter and over his shoulder thoughtfully. "Hmm...yes, I guess that would work."Tadashi nodded, finding that highly agreeable. Maybe Zero could help him remember some other things he never could seem to retain.

It wasn't long before Tadashi had his prized cup of coffee and was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping the dark liquid contently. He could feel his senses being revived by the rather potent scent alone. Zero smiled, seeing the man was finally gratified and happy again. "What were you doing up so early anyway?"

"Just working." Tadashi said. "This thing with Megaman was really bothering me, I guess I couldn't get back to sleep, so there was little else for me to do." He cuffed the warm cup with both hands and gently lifted it to his lips, taking slow sips. "I figured at lest one of them had to be awake...did Lan really sleep all day yesterday?" Tadashi asked, knowing Lan could be a bit lazy at times...many times, but yesterday was enough to make him worry.

"Yup." Zero nodded, telling most of the truth, Lan had slept _most_ of the previous day. Over times he just laid awake and stared around with hints of boredom creeping into his demeanor. He didn't say much, he thought a lot, but that quickly got old for him and he tried to fall asleep again. Zero remembered it all distinctly because during those times he'd been alone, left to himself...

"Hmm..." Tadashi stared down blankly, his face creasing it's usual thoughtfulness.

"Worried?" Zero asked.

"Yeah a little." Tadashi admitted.

Zero just smiled. "You think to much, it'll be fine."

Tadashi blinked questioningly, not expecting to hear something like that. Then he just shook his head and laughed. "Maybe your right."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Day 4: Strange feelings

Lan sighed deeply, his eyes rolling over the copiously clean, white tiled floors and off white walls, the room was silent aside from the hum of florescent lights hanging from the ceiling. Deathly silent, a cold, impersonally quiet. 'So this is what Enzan had to go through all day...' He thought to himself, leaning back in his chair and looking over the small hospital examination room. He couldn't help contentiously thinking that he was situated on the completely opposite side of the hospital as Enzan, the distance between them. He wished more then he ever had before that he could just be there right now not here.

He watched as the dark red liquid flowed out of his arm in a small tube, pouring into a vile his physician was holding. Megaman sat idly nearby, loyally by his side as he always was. "..." He felt a nervousness swelling in his stomach, no matter how much he looked away his eyes seemed to always find their way back to his siphoning blood when he wasn't paying attention.

How much blood had been taken already, not enough to fill that small vile it seemed...

'Man, this sure is taking a long time.' He thought. How long had he been sitting here? How long had he been holding his arm out like this and watching? Tch. Why did he care? Why was he so worried about it? It would end when it ended, it wasn't like he was afraid of something. 'Afraid, yeah right, I'm probably thinking to much.' If Enzan knew he thinking like this, he'd have a field day. No way, he wasn't afraid, though he couldn't help constantly thinking about fear.

Man, that tube certainly was taking a long time to fill...

Lan couldn't seem to look away from the tube protruding from his arm, the only way he could tell anything was actually moving were the small bubbles that shifted through the plastic every so often. He wasn't terribly adverse to the sight of blood, but as he watched he couldn't help but notice that sinking feeling of his stomach . Ok, maybe he was nervous, a little nervous. An impatient desire in him rose in him to get this over with, for this all to be done. This was he didn't want to come to the hospital, this feeling...

Lan leaned forward and squinted at the physician's hand, was that the same tube? Was it fill up at all?

"Lan?" The man looked up at Lan inquiringly. "Are you ok?"

Lan flinched, as much as he'd been focusing on the man, he completely forgot he was here, his thoughts had only been on what he was holding. "Oh, yeah." An instinctive response, he barely gave the question any consideration, something in him had learned that an accepting answer would lead to questions he didn't feel like answering among other things, so without conscious thought he retreated.. A strange sensation came over him, like a weight was growing inside of his arm, and finally he dropped it listlessly at his side. It was so heavy...Everything felt heavy...

Hey wait, that tube has the same amount in it! He'd seen all of that blood being drawn from his vein, so where was it going?

The physician gave him a suspicious glance. "Lan, tell me if you feel lightheaded at all."

Ok, maybe he was a little afraid, though he didn't know why. He'd never had blood drawn, but he had seen his own blood plenty of times, notably yesterday. So what was it? Why did he feel so much like something was wrong, like something bad was happening to him here? 'Hunnn...' He dizzy again..."Yeah...maybe a little." His head slumped slightly and his form lost what casual posture it had. He tried to lift his arm again, but he found it much harder then in previous times. "Kinda...sleepy too."

"Hmm..." The physician looked up a Lan wearily, then down at the strap wrapped around his forearm measuring his blood pressure. "This looks a little..." Then he lifted his head decidedly and began removing the needle pricing Lan's arm, placing a small tile of cotton on the spot. "Alright, Lan, were going to stop."

"Huh?" Lan glanced over at Megaman, rubbing his arm absentmindedly. "Is something wrong?"

"No." The man shook his head. "Those feelings are completely normal to have when blood is drawn." Though, there seemed to be some other thing on the man's mind that he wasn't saying. He gathered what blood he collected and left the room.

"Lan...Are you ok?" Megaman asked, not making an attempt to hide his considerable concern.

Lan tilted his head over toward Megaman and looked at him fully, he never could never really hide anything from him. Though in his defense he wasn't really hiding anything, he simply didn't want anyone to worry about him, especially since Megaman had his own problems to worry about. "Yeah, Just a little tired I guess." He just wished he could move...

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

That was it, he didn't care if it was a bad idea or not, he didn't care if his body still ached, he didn't care if Blues was attempting to convince him in a callous reasoning with bare traces of noticeable concern that he should stay in bed.

Enzan grunted in frustrated aggravation, pressing his hand against the mattress and slipping his legs over the side. "Goddammit, I'm sick of this bed." He said honestly, and though he was angry, his answer had nothing to do with anger. Boredom wasn't apart of it either, though it was a pooling in his chest like stagnate water. There was a natural, inane trait to his wish to move away from this place, he didn't know what it was, he simply felt he had to obey it against all cost. "I'm sick of this damn room."

"Since when were you so restless?" Blues asked, looking at Enzan in an intrigued manner, like he was watching something he didn't like to see but couldn't seem to look away. Like a train wreak happening before his eyes. He began to realize that, like a train wreak, this could only end badly. It was a deep sense in him that was starting to rise with discontempt. 'Enzan...'

"I'm not _restless_." Enzan snorted highly defensively. Restless, that was such a...flawed word, like a person who couldn't contain or restrain themselves. He could restrain himself, Enzan thought, leaning over the edge of the bed, he just couldn't seem to contain himself in this, but he was reserved in everything else! He didn't want to, he didn't feel as if he was doing something wrong in wanting this, in fact he felt he was doing something wrong by staying here...He had to get out of here, he had to get out of here... 'This room...damn this room.' He felt like this room was swallowing him, he had to get out or he'd never get out. "I'm just..." He paused, his mind searching for the right word, "...sick of sitting here."

"Hmph, you never had a problem with it before." Blues said, having seen Enzan work by locking himself in a room for days on end, only to lock himself in another to finish another task. He didn't understand why sitting in a hospital would be so unbearable for him, he couldn't have possibly been home sick. He knew Enzan was not that attached to anything, besides Lan of course, so what was it?

"I don't have a problem with it." Enzan hissed bitterly, he felt paranoid, like he was being accused of something horribly wrong...'What's wrong with me?' He had no reason to, Blues knew him well, and he was just stating obvious facts that, by all means, he shouldn't have taken offense to. So why did he feel like he was being prosecuted? Like the world was staring at him, like he was under a burning spotlight. No... no, the wrong thing wasn't with him, it was with this room. "I-I just can't stand it anymore, ok!"

Blues looked at him questioningly, Enzan seemed surprisingly...erratic, today. Was this room really getting to him that much? "Enzan?" What was wrong with him?

Enzan stood up, not yet feeling his strength ebbing as he knew it would start to. He didn't care if it did, he'd hold on to something, he'd pull himself outside. He'd use a wheelchair, hell he'd crawl if need be, he felt that desperate. A sharp pricing pain burned up his left leg as he moved much to suddenly and he limped heavily, feeling keenly how strongly his speed was being hindered with each passing second. "Shit..." His bandaged arm flared up with a strong itch, stronger then the ones that came with new bandages, he scratched them in an aggravated movement filled with disarray.

The boy looked as if wanted to do so many things desperately, so many things were pulling him in different ways, but he could only do one. "Enzan..." Blues sighed, Enzan was really acting strange, he was angry and wanted to leave more then ever. Something wasn't right..."What' s wrong?" His voice asked with a curt concern, he leaned forward tensely.

"I just need to get out of here!" Enzan half shouted in a frantic outcry, moving toward the door as fast as he could manage. He felt anxious, something much deeper then the impending paranoia, he felt claustrophobic, he felt...Enzan stopped in mid step, he froze completely, an almost shocked look came to his face. '!' He gasped and clinched his chest, his eyes widening, like the air had been snatched from his lungs, from the room. He could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest, so fast and hard he feared something would happen to it but not knowing what. "Unnn..."

"Enzan!" Blues knew something was wrong now, no denying it. Worry shot through him like a cold chill shuttering down his spine, what was happening to him? He'd never felt such an incoherent, inexpressible concern, fear... ""E-Enzan!"

Enzan felt the familiar, numbing weakness returning, and soon enough his legs began to tremble. He felt dizzy, lightheaded. The room was spinning around him, blurring, twisting and turning. '!' Enzan stumbled and fell to his knees, sliding back weakly into the wall. "N-No...I have to..." He looked around fearfully as the walls began to close in on him, he'd thought the air was gone before, but he truly couldn't breathe now! "I have to get out of here!" He reached blindly outward, wishing desperately to get out, of this room!

There was no way out! No!

But soon enough his vision went blank and he fell dormant on the ground.

"Enzan!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Day 5: Longing

"Um..." Megaman smiled nervously, shuddering from the chill that came with the air meeting his bare skin. He forcibly had to avert his thoughts from his current condition, sitting on the familiar cold metal surface of the examination table. Unsure blue eyes rolled over the familiar equipment and surfaces in Tadashi's workspace, sitting thankfully in his boxers this time, keeping his thoughts distant, it was the only way he'd be able to refrain from blushing. Such an action would put his embarrassment on display, the last thing he need was for Tadashi to know how he was feeling, that would just make it worse. "Got anything yet?" He felt he had to speak, Tadashi had not asked for any responses, but he had spoken at length to fill up the yawning, shameful gap that loomed between them. He had spoken to try to drag the unreal nature of the situation back to safe and sound ground.To fill the awkward silence hanging in the air, at lest awkward for him. Maybe one of these days he was going to make a fool of himself, blurting out words in a half-thoughtless manner when ever he felt awkward.

Tadashi stood at the counter, doing something unseen on a Laptop, completely involved. Megaman shook his head and groaned to himself, here he was, unable to stop thinking about anything besides the fact he was sitting here almost completely naked. And Tadashi wasn't the slightest bit concerned. "Not yet..." He said thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on the screen as if drawn inevitably by it.

Megaman knew that tone, that posture, that demeanor. Tadashi had all but completely receded into himself , his mind attempting to dissect and comprehend a problem, and in such a state he unconsciously gave bare answers made merely to disband farther questions. "Hmm..." It amazed him how Tadashi had no aversion to doing these things.

'Geez...' Megaman lifted his hand and scratched his head gently, a nervous habit he'd developed among other things with this body. It still amazed him how simple things could elicit the most notable reactions, like the difference in temperatures when he was clothed and when he wasn't. He could take blunt sensations, definite cold and hot, distinct pain, it was all he was used to during his life. But when he obtained this body, a whole new set of senses awakened in him, and the old ones became sharper, new. He felt like an infant.

The chill of cold air, the light heat drifting up from a plate of food, bare touches against his skin, such new sensations made him nervous, confused even, like he didn't know how to handle it. "Is it...suppose to feel like this?" Megaman asked timidly.

Tadashi continued to gaze down at the screen. "What do you mean?" Tadashi asked, his voice still different.

"I mean..." Megaman looked away again, trying the words to describe it. It was always hard for him, many things were harder of him now. "This body, I guess it feels...maybe strange at times, the little things mostly."

"Like what?" Tadashi asked, clearly dividing his interest.

"Well...soft things, light things, like wind, and air and touches..." Megaman could stop blushing this time, when he thought of the last one he thought of many different things, Tadashi, his equipment...Lan.

Tadashi didn't respond at first, but he slowly looked up from the screen and glanced back at Megaman, "Hmm...You said touches right?" He asked, seeming to take a slight interest now.

Megaman nodded meekly.

"That's normal." Tadashi snorted with amusement. "That's one thing you'll have to get used to. But you said it made you feel strange?" He looked back down at his screen thoughtfully. "You know...I think I'm not running a broad enough range of test. Anything else?"

Megaman dropped his head and sighed, he knew he should have stopped talking, but he just couldn't help it, the awkward silences were too much for him "I'm not sure this is related to anything but...I feel kinda like I'm missing something. Every time I think of something, it's like I have more ideas but I just can't hear them. I feel like..somethings missing, like I want something but I just don't know what it is."

"Heh." Tadashi smiled. "That's life."

! - ! - !.

! - ! - !

"Were you...always this heavy?" Lan grunted with a harsh whisper. He pushed open the door roughly, fearing briefly for a second that it would bang against the wall and awaken everyone in the house. Megaman's arm was draped over his shoulder, his own arms clinched desperately around Megaman's waist, and the taller form leaned on him heavily. Lan struggled visibly to carry the combined weight, with harsher breathing, and slow, sloppy steps, each one on the verge of collapse.

"S-sorry about this." Megaman apologized weakly, with all of his strength he pushed upward with his legs, attempting to lift himself off of Lan and carry as much of his weight as he could. But his efforts only served to intensify the ringing dizziness that spun around in his head, the harsh nauseousness that stirred in his stomach. The worse of it had to be the pain that he couldn't feel physically, a sense like his mind was being scattered and he couldn't think, that feeling that everything was still being defragmented. He staggered along as Lan pulled him onward, closer and closer to the stairs, knowing his attempts to help carry himself were making his condition worse but...

The closer they came, the more Lan realized that he'd never be able to get Megaman up those stairs. "Un..." Finally he faltered in fatigue, letting himself fall on to the couch with Megaman weakly in tow. "I just need to...rest here...for a while..." He panted, landing listlessly on top of Megaman. Megaman couldn't move if he tried, every muscle in his body seemed to lock and become tight and stiff, an inevitable result.

They were silent for a while as the both tried to regain themselves. It was late, later then Lan normally returned home, sometime around 10:30, or at lest thats what it had been the last time he looked at a clock.

Lan lifted his head from the former Navi's chest and looked up at him with an unusual shyness in his eyes, his mouth opened to speak, but the words didn't come immediately, as if wanted to say something but thought better of it. "Megaman... are you... ok?" Timidly.

Megaman blinked questioningly, and nodded. "Yeah. I'm ok." Questioning reassurance.

Lan slowly laid his head on to Megaman's chest again and stared outward in the dark interior of the living room. "..." Silence.

Megaman continue watching Lan, perceiving the shy, worry in the boy's voice. Was he worried about him? "Why do you ask?" Questioning.

Lan shook his head, he never could hide anything from Megaman, he was almost sure that Megaman knew he was worried. For that very reason it was easier not to speak on it, not to go through the tangle of awkward emotions that such a conversation would bring about. An unconscious reflex drove his answer, just as last time "No reason really." A weak denial

"Hn." Accepted.

Lan titled his head and stared down at Megaman's chest, feeling the warmth drifting up from his body, and again he couldn't help but notice how astounding this all really was. How much difference it made now that he could touch Megaman, feel him, and have Megaman be able to do the same. Laying stretched out across the couch like this he really could notice the height difference between them. His entire body could fit between boundaries of the arm rest while Megaman's head laid on top of it, a single leg was hanging off the side and the other leg was drawn up half awkwardly leaning against the backrest. Lan could see it even more now that he was this close, at 12 inches or so shorter then Megaman at the lest.

Oh Gods he wished wasn't a dream, having seen Megaman on the verge of death and now he was better then ever..A sense of reluctance came again as he lifted his hand, almost fearing that Megaman would disappear, though he knew it was an irrational one wouldn't happen. He pressed his hand against Megaman's stomach, as if trying to confirm it was all real, his finger tips taking in the feel of warm, firm flesh defined with muscles yet holding a level of softness. Megaman shuttered lightly at the cold touch , but stayed still, silent, observing.

Becoming bolder in his explorations, Lan lifted the other one to Megaman's torso and roamed over the toned body, almost forgetting that Megaman was even there in his deep need to know he was real and tangible. Finally he just closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Megaman, hugging him as tightly as he could. "You know...I-I had missed you so much, I didn't think that you'd ever-" A breakdown and reluctance admittance

Megaman rested his hands on Lan's shoulder comfortingly, noting how every point of his own skin felt when connected with Lan's, it felt just as amazing and invaluable to him as it did the first time. "It's ok, I'm alright. Nothing's gonna happen to me" Hopefully comforting reassurance.

"I know but..." He didn't know, in fact something inside of him was determinedly sure that something would, that he'd wake up to find it was all just a dream, and Megaman was really gone, or would be. Lan burred his face into Megaman's chest, he had to force himself to repress on coming tears, he shouldn't be crying now. Everything was fine, everything was working out perfectly, he had all he could ever need...something like this could only be a dream, and he was bound to wake up sometime. "It's just that sometimes I think your gonna-" A complete break down and timid admittance.

"Lan, relax." Megaman ruffled his hair lightly and smiled down at the boy, he didn't know what was that made him feel an odd sense of...relieved happiness. Lan was ready to cry over him, something inside of him felt a satisfaction knowing he had so much barring to the boy, another part felt a sense of pride that Lan was trying to show strength and attempting hold it back. "I'm ok now, every things alright..." More reassurance.

Lan's face cringed as he attempted to restrain himself, to hold back a flood of repressed things he hadn't realized were even there until the moment they began blurring his vision and choking his throat. Finally it all burst out with a sputtering sob and he buried his face into Megaman's chest and cried.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It hadn't taken Lan too long to cry himself to sleep, he was soon lulled to sleep in Megaman's passive, worried embrace.

He felt better now, the strange feelings of weak dizziness, disorderedness, and being generally lost had faded away. If he tried he knew he'd be able to move normally again, but every time the thought crossed his mind, he'd look down at Lan and see how peacefully he was sleeping now, his face dormant and still with the slight wetness of tears on his cheek. He'd put it off, saying to himself he didn't want to disturb the boy.

So instead he reached to the back of his neck and drew a cord that lay at the top of his spine, and connected it to his former P.E.T.

Not as much had changed as Megaman expected, apart of him, having fought the '201102' virus, had thought this place would end up looking in a similar manner. It was just as he had left it, even better in fact, most of the damage that had been caused when the system was infected were gone, exactly what had happened to it, Megaman wasn't sure. It was probably isolated in some deep corner.

Zero climbed quickly to his feet and walked towards him with hasty, anxious steps. "Megaman? What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice wasn't as much questioning as it was surprised, like he hadn't thought anyone would come...

"I don't know." Megaman shrugged and smiled his usual friendly smile. "Just thought I'd drop by." Honestly there'd been a nagging notion in his mind the entire day about Zero, wondering how he was, what he was doing now that he wasn't occupying Blue's space.

"Oh." Zero nodded and slowly eased himself to the ground, crossing his legs and dropping his hands into his lap. He smiled relievedly, thought Megaman didn't understand what he saw, it was like Zero had thought Megaman was some unknown danger, or something that sought to cause him harm. "Glad to see you guys didn't forget about me."

"How could anyone forget about _you_?"Megaman snorted with amusement, he didn't think he'd be able to forget about Zero if he tried. If felt like he had an organic sense to do more then simply remember him...

"Heh heh." Zero rubbed the back of his neck and smirked, "You say it like it's hard to forget someone like me." Zero's smirk softened and he tilted his head back and looked up, his eyes distant and forlorn. Megaman looked at him thoughtfully, almost thinking Zero meant something by his words and he was missing it. But the thought faded quickly with Zero's next words. "You say it like I'm some weird guy or something." Zero looked at Megaman with feigned inquisition. "So what are you saying Megaman?"

Megaman laughed out loud, shaking his head and waving his hands in surrender. "No, no way." He declined, "Your not that strange."

Zero rolled his eyes and waved his hand discardingly. The laughter ceased and the smiles dulled into content expressions, a comfortable silence spread between the two.

Megaman slowly sat down in front of Zero, drawing his legs up to his chest and resting his folded arms on his knees. He sat in the silence and watched observantly, not intentionally a studying quality to his watching, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to know what it was about Zero that seem to draw him so much, like something in him was missing, and Zero could help him find it. He smiled to himself, he liked Zero, and that feeling was completely unrelated to the other one. He was like everyone he was friends with in some aspect, he had something familiar about him, but he was unlike anyone he'd ever met.

"I'm really glad you actually came." Zero said. "You have no idea how boring it is in here."Casually.

"I was never bored."Replying.

Zero looked up at him with a faint realization, he'd nearly forgotten that this was Megaman's P.E.T. "Really?" Zero asked curiously, how could Megaman not have been, he felt like he was in jail, even though he could leave whenever he wished. No, his prison wasn't physical, it was a mental one. "'Cause I couldn't take it anymore." A fact too incredible for belief.

Megaman shrugged."You miss him?" Clearly implying Blues.

"Well..." Zero looked away, slipping his hand into the his long, golden hair and rubbing the back of his head nervously. He seemed a bit shy about the subject, as if he was about to divulge something shamefully embarrassing. But despite all of those feelings he had no doubts or reluctance about admitting it."Yeah I miss him." A timid admittance.

Megaman nodded, at first thinking that was it, that had to be why Zero was so horribly bored. He missed Blues, that was it, Megaman wasn't sure how he could miss him that much, but he had been practically alone in here since they'd made whatever deal had caused them to separate. Who wouldn't be bored. "I'll stay with you." Megaman offered, speaking as if what he was offering was simply a small gift that wasn't much of anything. "If you want." A friendly offer.

Zero smiled, he laughed even, another out pouring of his relief someone else was here. "Sure, if you want." He nodded happily. "I glad, 'cause I think I was starting to lose it." Half joking.

Megaman smiled at his smile. "I don't think you ever had it." Joking back.

"What, are you trying to take over for Blues today?" Playful defensiveness.

Megaman's eyes rolled upward thoughtfully, as if he was really contemplating it. Maybe he was..."I'm just being honest." Megaman said politely, then he laughed out loud. "Some one like you only comes along once in a life time." Yeah, maybe he was trying to fill in for Blues and didn't realize it fully. He got the sense that Zero liked to argue, to fight, with anger and annoyment came an energy that made him want to push back, an excited energy that created a stubborn diligence that didn't so much create the desire to get his point across, but simply to debate it. "You are pretty unusually." Nonchalantly.

Zero pointed at Megaman accusingly and laughed. "Your the one that was all afraid when we were flying." He retorted, leaning forward and rubbing Megaman's head in a childish way, thinking of how Megaman had shouted in startled fright gave him a sense of one like an elder brother looking on at his scared sibling. "You screamed the whole way." An amused, playful taunting

Megaman blushed and shook his head, laughing in a mixture of amusement and an embarrassment. "It wasn't like that at all." He protested, shaking his head...'?' He felt something small fall on to his arm, so small and light that he barely noticed it. Megaman looked down. "Huh?" Inquiring.

Zero questioningly looked down to see what it was also, he saw a small drop of blue liquid on Megaman's forearm, and immediately froze with an unspeakable fright. '?' His eyes widened in shock and darted up to the lowest tip of his helmet that dipped over the bridge of his nose. The same blue liquid was slowly filtering down and discharging off, another drop fell onto Megaman's arm and Zero felt as afraid as a child who'd seen death itself. '!' Zero clamped his hand over his forehead, his body so taunt it nearly trembled,for a full moment it seemed he was so stiff from fight that his body was locked, feeling his heart begin to pound and air becoming increasingly scares. Tense, fearful silence.

Megaman at first was fixated with it because he felt a vague familiar sense about it, '?' He looked up and saw Zero pulling away from him. "Zero?" Megaman looked at him questioningly, tilting his head to the side with a bit of perplexity, not yet grasping the intensity of Zero's behavior. He pointed to Zero's hands cuffed tightly over his forehead with an instinctive move, watching the same blue liquid slowly slip in between his fingers. When he spoke his voice was as innocent and unknowing as a curious child. "What's that?" Innocent questioning.

'!' Zero flinched, unable to describe exactly the torrent of emotions that erupted inside of him. He felt the overwhelming need to run, to hide, to get away from Megaman, out of his sight, out of his mind. He made him feel every bit of what he was by Megaman just standing there looking at him, looking at him with questioning. He felt he had no physical existence at all right then; he was something he hated, the bandage of shame which he knew was attached to this blue liquid. He did not really know just where this fear and shame had come from; it had just been there, that was all, and it rose in him hot and hard. "N-no..."He gasped, with a hard flinch he fell backwards onto a sitting position and drew back like a scared, wounded animal fearing harm or danger. His only instinct, all of his feeling pushed him flee, to do so right now.

"Hey Zero-" Megaman leaned forward, reaching out a hand, hoping to prevent him moving any farther. His concern was pouring obviously into his voice, his worry was clear in his body's posture. "-Wait a minute." Reaching out to him with concern.

"N-no! G-g..." Zero stumbled over his words, knowing only that he felt this horrible shame, like he'd committed a nameless wrong, and Megaman's presence was accusing him. A strange sensation enveloped him. Something tingled in his stomach and on his scalp, his knees wobbled, giving way. He stumbled backwards weakly a wave of numbness spread fan wise from his stomach over his entire body, including his head and eyes, making his mouth gap. Strength ebbed from him, he sank to his knees and pressed his fingers to the floor to keep from tumbling over on his side. An organic sense of dread seized him. He had to get away, some hard sense in him feared that Megaman would hate him horribly for being what he was, half a virus. He was just some hideous, ugly thing, a monstrosity with no value, retaining the flaws of both sides and and the strengths of none. "No!" A horrified plea.

"Zero!" Megaman shouted. "Stop! Calm down!" Reaching out with complete worry.

"N-no, stay away from me!" A desperate, fearful plea devoid of any thought other then fear and the instinct to get away from it all.

"Zero! What's wrong! Wait! Stop running!" A confused plea just as desperate and fearful.

Zero gained a bit of himself and rolled over on to his knees, scrambling away, struggling to climb to his feet and run as fast as he could. But his haste was so great he stumbled, it didn't keep him down for more then a half a second before he stumbled to his knees and tried even harder. "N-no!" Overwhelming fear made him completely shut down and utter rejection of everything.

Megaman pleaded, confused and afraid at the same time. His mind was so utterly jumbled with confusion and fearful worry, he had lost all focus over his actions. He moved with out the slightest thought as to what he was doing, scrambling forward after him frantically. All he knew was something was wrong, something was terribly wrong, he had to find out what it was, he had to fix it! Megaman dove forward and tackled Zero roughly, grabbing him by the legs and sending them both down. Megaman quickly found himself in a wild struggle as Zero desperately tried to push him off, and Megaman was merely trying to get him to be calm and still. Finally after a full moment of wild tumbling he found himself on top of Zero, he grabbed Zero's arms and shifted his body's weight to press solely on Zero's lower body, attempting to restrain him. "Zero!"

Zero thought only of prying Megaman away, his movements were wild and nearly erratic, but soon enough Megaman had his hands pint above his head, even if just barely. He seemed quite determined.. A strong part of him felt satisfied, as if he was getting what he deserved in this, that now he was laying open and unhidden and Megaman could see him completely for what he was and hate him for it. A strong part of him wanted to lay there and cease to exist with the knowledge that Megaman loathed him. "..." Shame and embarrassment inhibiting words.

Megaman took his hands off of Zero's wrist and quickly pried off the helmet, tossing it aside. He looked down with worried curiosity, having developed a fearful awe before even seeing it after witnessing Zero's reaction to it. Megaman himself would have just announced with an innocent curiosity and examined it, but Zero...there had to be something wrong with it? Honestly it wasn't quite what he expected. It was just a wound, an open wound bleeding out blue blood. His first instinct was to inquire about the wound and ask how he could help it "Zero?" Unsure, tense questioning.

Zero turned his head away and shifted his eyes to the floor in a horrible disgrace, he lay idle underneath Megaman, feeling as if he was laying here naked and the entire world could see him and be horrified, remaining silent in defeat. Yes, he wanted it this way, so Megaman could hate him and see him for the virus he was. Things felt right that way, orderly, everything would be as it should that way, he would feel in his place, a favor even came, he wanted it this way. Maybe Megaman would take a long time, maybe he'd suffer while Megaman was doing it, a part of him would have applauded Megaman to that affect. He wanted to die right now, not just part of him, his entire being wished to no longer live. If only Megaman would...

It took Megaman longer then he would have liked to admit to realize Navi's didn't bleed, so maybe that's why Zero was so adamant about it. Zero was a virus, maybe he was afraid of infecting him? Megaman sighed to himself when he saw the expression on Zero's face, the posture in his form, how utterly hopeless and ashamed he looked. Maybe he just didn't like himself again. "Are you ok?" Megaman asked, slowly climbing off of Zero and shifting with a nervous embarrassment at his actions, he'd never done anything so...rash, it was like his mind had shut off and drew a blank again. Though this was the first time he'd actually made an action while in such a state "Dose it hurt?" Worry in the absence of words to comfort.

"..." Zero didn't respond immediately, still staring outward into space, into nothingness, as if he was apart of that nothingness. Finally he swallowed hard and shook his head, "..." he half mumbled, his voice weak with timid embarrassment, he didn't know if he'd ever be able to look at Megaman again, feeling as if he'd done something horrible to him, as if his very presence was a constant reminder for that wrong. "...No." Reluctant response.

Megaman rested on his knees at Zero's side, watching him, he couldn't possibly bring himself to lean down and looked into Zero's face. "So what are you worried about?" Megaman slipped his hand underneath Zero's cheek and cuffed his chin. Gently Megaman turned head until they were face to face. Then he pressed his forearm against Zero's head and began wiping away the blood that threatened to fall into his eyes.

Zero stared up at Megaman with his eyes wide in awe, he should have know Megaman wouldn't suddenly hate him, no, it would take more then this. 'Doesn't he know what this is?' He thought to himself, how could Megaman not realize what he was touching? If he did, would it not instantly make him think he was dirty and wrong, something to be ashamed off and stay way from? Zero quickly convinced himself that Megaman needed...had a right to know what it was. "Mega..." But his voice failed and no words would come. Maybe he did know... "..." Silence.

Megaman looked over him and couldn't help but feel saddened also. 'Man, he's really depressed...' Megaman slipped his arm around Zero's back and lifted him upright, again he found no resistance, as if the body he was moving was simply a lifeless doll that neither cooperated no fought against, like Zero's spirit had been broken and he'd completely gave up. He wondered at first where the wound came from...but no, it had probably came from one of the many fights he had with Blues. He hadn't seen Blues in about 5 days. "Does that happen lot?" Questioning.

Zero dropped his head and looked at the floor, again wanting to run, to hide, to get out of this burning spotlight that had pointed him out and isolated him from his safe hiding place. But at the same time he didn't, he held himself there, feeling a satisfaction in what he felt, like he was getting what he deserved. "Yeah, every once and a while." He admitted.

Megaman sat down beside Zero, looking away nervously also. He couldn't look at Zero, no, he couldn't watch him, that would just make him feel worse. But he couldn't just sit here like this, in awkward silence, while Zero sat in a deadened depression. "You know..." Megaman started. "Weird stuff like that happens to me all the time." Reaching out sacrificially.

Zero peaked in eye towards the former Navi, "Really?" He asked, a soft interest growing in what he was saying, though not generally enough to make him talk. He'd bite, even though he didn't much feel like it, just to shift the focus away from recent actions, now feeling more embarrassed about how surprised and afraid he was then what had caused those feelings in the first place.

Megaman scratched his cheek as he thought, "Some times when I do things like run a lot or try to lift really heavy things, my body stops working." Sacrificially reaching out.

Zero looked at him fully this time, his curiosity having been peeked, he heard traces of things like this from Tadashi but he never really understood. "What do you mean?" Growing interest.

"I get all dizzy and weak. Then I start feeling kinda sick and everything gets blurry." Megaman explained, feeling no aversion to discussing this with Zero as he may have with Lan or anyone else. He felt like Zero had shown him everything, every hidden fact about himself, and it comforted Megaman a bit, spawning the sense that Zero surely wouldn't think any less of him having shown his own flaws. "If I keep going, everything just kinda locks and I can hardly move for a while."

Zero watched Megaman with a silent curiosity, where he had thrust himself into an entirely different field, dangerous and uncharted territory, Megaman had made it safe again. "Really..." Zero asked with an reverence and timid opening audible in his voice. "Well, stuff like that happened to me, kinda." Zero admitted, he looked away again, feeling nervous but wanting to talk to someone, wanting to talk to Megaman, to get it all out. He wanted to talk to Megaman, like he wanted to talk to Tadashi the morning when the man had lowered his defenses, only this time he'd felt defeated enough to do it. "Sometimes I...kinda tune out." Finally admitting.

"Tune out?"

"It's hard to describe." Zero said bashfully, attempting to find a way to describe it all. "I just kinda blank out, one minute every things ok and the next I just kinda go..."Loss for words to describe it fully.

Megaman nodded in slight understanding, he didn't know what it meant completely but he got the idea. Zero didn't like to be alone with himself, he always had a faint knowledge but he knew it now in a way he didn't know it before, it was closer when it was distant, more real. Zero was manic at best, most times he was fine, or seemed to be, other times he fell into this subtle, self-loathing depression with nervous, fake smiles and a dulling look in his usually bright eyes. Megaman hated that look, it always elicited a deep sadness in himself. It wasn't just the fact that Zero hated himself, there was something wrong with him that he kept hidden to himself, he was afraid of himself, of whatever problems he had. What were they? Why was he so afraid of them? "That kinda happens to me too sometimes." Megaman said. He decided to himself, he'd stay with Zero, spend as much time as he could. What were friends for? Though he did wonder what had drove him to go through with that deal he and Blues made, especially if he didn't like being alone with himself. Why would he subject himself to that?

"Seriously?" Tension.

"Yeah." Megaman nodded, not feeling as nervous as he had been the first time he admitted something like this. "Everything in my head just kinda scatters in every different direction and I feel really lost. Sometime I don't even know where I am or what's going on." Most notably it happened recently when he tackled Zero. "Doesn't last too long though, maybe a few seconds or a few minutes." Replying.

"Me too.." Zero sacrificially agreed... A strange feeling started to ebb over him.'?' A distance...he started to feel a distance. He was looking strait at Megaman, Megaman was sitting right in front of him, but he felt like a gap was growing in between them, in between the world. Megaman's voice began to recede farther and farther from him, he could hear it less and less...

_Zero?_

'What the...' Zero could only stare in an awe at what was happening, not only was the world fading away from him, his body seemed to be also. He lifted his hands in front of his face just to make sure they were still his own, he lost feeling for them, for everything, it was simply dead weight, everything was cold and numb. He felt like he was in a sea, and he was floating away but all of this dead weight, his body was like loosely fitting chains, holding him down.

_Zero? Are you ok?_

Finally his vision began to cloud, obscured by flickering grains of static that took over his sight, and then his hearing, and then all there was was static. 'No way...not now...' He could barely hear himself think, but he could hear other things, distorted things, he could barely distinguish the bare trace of a distorted absurd, obscured voice Maybe...no it was something. 'Not again...'

_Zero!_

Then all at once, like a receding tide it all drew back and he came rushing back to reality. He heard Megaman's voice calling out to him, he felt Megaman's hands gripping his shoulders tightly and shaking him. Megaman had drawn him out of it... "Huh?" Zero looked up at him, his expression blank at first, then quickly growing nervous. He smiled uneasily, hoping that it would draw attention away from what had happened, or at lest reduced the severity.

"Zero? Are you alright?" Megaman asked, reluctant to let go as if something in him feared Zero would slip away from him if he did.

This is what Zero hated, he hated seeing, hearing the worry in Megaman's voice, knowing that he was focused completely on him, thinking that something must have been horribly wrong with him. To have someone so worried over him was like being persecuted, to have what he was most ashamed of being exploited against him. Besides, it wasn't like he deserved it, ashamed pride aside, it wasn't like he deserved Megaman's concern. Megaman shouldn't have been worried about him, Megaman should have just hoped he'd slip away and his existence would end. Zero smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, what are you so worried about?" He asked, instinctively falling back into his normal persona, speaking as if he'd only drifted off into a day dream.

Megaman just stared at him in awe for what seemed to be an eternity, then his face straitened with an inspired understanding and he let Zero go, slowly receding back to where he'd been sitting. "...It happened again..." Megaman stated it as if it were a sure fact more then he asked. He immediately began to feel a nauseous guilt for bringing up something he knew Zero was trying so hard to conceal and ward away as nothing.

Zero tilted his head to the side and his eyes fell to the floor, "..." He was silent for a moment, almost as if he'd never answer, but just like before he couldn't have resisted being drawn into Megaman's nature. Feeling as if he was admitting to some shameful act that should have been kept in the dark, he nodded. "...Yeah..."

Megaman rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "I guess we both have some problems to work out huh?" Sacrificial and uncompromising acceptance.

Zero was taken back for a moment, a part of him was in utter disbelief that Megaman could react to him in such a way, a part of him still screamed out in a frustrated voice that Megaman should hate him, that any moment now everything would occur to him and he'd start loathing him as much as he did himself. But that moment never came, and Zero was left sitting there with his mouth hanging open and slightly bewildered. "...Yeah..." Speechless.

Megaman crossed his legs and sat in a comfortable, thoughtful silence. What he was thinking of, Zero had no idea.

"Hey Megaman..." Questioningly.

"Huh?"

"...Thanks..." Offering thankfully.

Megaman waved his hand discardingly. "No problem." Shy disregard.

"Oh...and could you, not tell anyone about this." Hopeful

"Of course." Compliance.

! - ! - !


	19. Chapter 18: A week part 3

Chapter 18: A week part 3

Day 6: Calm.

Enzan had to admit, there was always something to see in this hospital, they certainly spared no expense to make this place presentable. "Who dose all of this stuff." Enzan mumbled to himself, pausing in his thoughts for a moment to shift around in his chair. His room was on the 13th floor, he however, was sitting in a waiting room on the 9th floor, divided between staring out the window and looking out into the hallway. This view was different here, spanning an entirely different part of the hospital and the surrounding landscape, the passing cars and blur of people were hypnotic during the day, but the view was admirable at night.

Wait...what was he thinking about again? 'Damn...' There it was again, he never could remember things, his memory always failed him, especially with small things. Like his keys, he still hadn't found them, nor could he remember where they were. 'Damnit, I left them around here some where...'

Anyway, this hospital truly was a place to see, nearly every hall open to the public was lined with works of art, all types, paintings, photographs, murals. Not to mention the sculptures and designs, some of the more physical and elaborate works of arts. Everything was warm and inviting, oak furnishing, tan, natural, warm colors and eye pleasing lights, stylish designs. Such elaborations were...admirable when Enzan thought about it, with it's great views and overall interior this place was like an art gallery for the sick and injured.

'People...' Enzan wasn't generally the socializing type, he didn't often like to deal with people, it just left him annoyed and frustrated in most cases. But this place, as great as it's was, wouldn't be half as great without the multitude of people, the life, the energy. 'I wish I could build a place like this.' He thought shiftlessly, lifting his injured leg onto a coffee table, his hand scratching shiftlessly at his left arm. He didn't like people, though, he did like their presence.

He wasn't around a number of people like this very often, he never had time, he was always off on his own ambitions and endeavors. He liked this, at lest for the moment, just being around people...

Which is why he liked Lan so much, in an annoyed, half intolerant kind of way. Lan was the embodiment of an entire population of people he'd missed out on... He had to admit he certainly liked watching Lan, and all of his denseness. 'Is he gonna look through the whole hospital before he realizes I'm in here?' Enzan snorted to himself, which was why his attention was divided halfway into the hospital.

Finally he caught Lan's eye and the boy noticed he was there, just as soon Lan made his way into the now completely depleted waiting room, all of the people had somehow drifted out over the half hour period he'd been sitting here. "Enzan! I've been looking all over for you." Lan said, he rubbed the back of his head anxiously and smiled warmly. Enzan admired Lan's smile, he didn't think he'd ever be able to smile in that way, so easily, it was just not something he was inclined to. "Do you know how big this place is? I didn't think I'd ever find you."

Enzan folded his arms and snorted, out loud this time. "I don't know how you find your way here every day, it's a miracle you don't get lost on the street."

Lan's expression drifted into aggravated one, though Enzan always noticed his face looked a bit confused whenever in this state, like there was just something he couldn't find or understand that threw him off balance, or he was completely caught off guard by it. "Me, your worse then I am." Lan retorted. "I'm surprised you remember where you live." Lan was keenly aware that Enzan wasn't one for details, the small things...which seemed to be a lot of things, always eluded him. He always took up a bit too much, call it arrogance and over estimating himself.

"Heh." Enzan smirked, he knew he was being, for lack of a better word, a jerk, but he couldn't help it, it just seemed to a natural part of him. He didn't have restraint with certain things, such as stating what was clear to him, yes, he was blunt in this way. And plus, it was always amusing to watch Lan's reactions.

Lan still couldn't figure out what Enzan was doing here, with his room on the 13th floor and this being the 9th floor waiting room. Blues was right, Enzan did wonder around a lot when he was bored, it was almost like a childish restlessness that made him incapable of sitting in one spot if he wasn't doing something even loosely engrossing. Well, Enzan was still young, and he wasn't completely infallible. "I spent like an hour looking for you, I tried to find that place in the basement, I figured you'd be there ..." Lan's voice trailed off and he looked away, his face cringing in annoyment and aggravation. He wouldn't say it, he felt that admitting this would be conceding defeat, and proving Enzan right, all the thing the other boy had over him, he didn't want to give him another..

Enzan's smirk grew wider, he leaned forward and looked at Lan more closely, he could see it on his face, that look told him all he needed to know. "Heh, you got lost didn't you?" He said, in a smug, condescending voice that never failed to infuriate Lan.

Lan growled with anger, folding his arms stubbornly and glaring harshly out the window. "So what if I did, it's not my fault, it's a maze down there."

"You, Lan, have no sense of direction." Enzan clinched the armrests and began pushing upward with all of his strength, he strained to climb to his feet, grunting softly as he did. "One of many things your lacking."

Lan peeked one eye in Enzan's direction, noticing the trouble he was having, and few other things he would have never noticed had Blues not had pointed out when he came looking for Enzan. Enzan was right about him, Lan realized now just how unobservant he was, he should have seen that small twitching in Enzan's legs, the failing grip in his left arm, among other things that displayed Enzan's condition. 'Is he actually getting worse?'

Though taking much longer then he had anticipated, Enzan made it to his feet, it was much easier walking then actually trying to stand. Limbing visibly, Enzan grabbed Lan's hand and started leading him out of the waiting room.

"Hey...where's all that equipment and stuff you were hooked to?" Lan asked, trailing curiously behind Enzan, taking notice that he was fully dressed, no longer in patient attire.

Enzan found hospital gowns dignifying, another thing he hated about being stuck in this place. "Tch, it was only a monitor and an IV." Enzan said discardingly.

"Don't you need that stuff?"

"I can live without it for a few hours."

Enzan leaned against the wall between the elevators, he didn't feel weak like he did other times, but he felt oddly tired. He shook his head and ignored it, he'd be fine as long as he kept moving he told himself. Clinching his eyes shut and taking in deep breaths. 'This is ridiculous, I've never...?' Enzan paused in his thoughts, his eyes slowly re-opened and his vision was greeted with the sight of Lan leaning awkwardly close, and observing him curiously. "Lan, what the hell are you doing?" Enzan asked, his voice tented with annoyment. The familiar bell sounded and Enzan pushed Lan back, walking through the opening doors and stepping into the elevator. There he casually assumed the same position, his hands clinching the railings tightly for support.

Lan leaned against the wall beside him and watched as the doors rolled shut after them. "Blues was right, you not ok. You shouldn't be up." Lan said chastisingly. Though had he remembered his own condition at the moment he wouldn't have been so quick to state it.

"Tch, Blues is overreacting." Though, Enzan admitted, he did give him good reason. Enzan reached forward and pressed 'B1' before sinking back against the wall. "And your not doing too well yourself Lan." He said, pointing at the bandages around Lan's head, he gave the center of Lan's forehead a sharp poke..

And Lan winced, stepping back."I'm not nearly as bad as you." Lan said, half defensively, half worried. "I know I'm well enough to at lest be out of my room, you shouldn't even be awake right now. What are you, planing another escape?"

Enzan smiled to himself. "Hn, something like that."

"If Blues is worried about you, it's gotta be serious." Lan said, his voice more solemn this time.

"Blues is just acting like that because he misses Zero." Enzan waved with disregard..

An interest was peeked in Lan when he heard that, "You really think so?"

"It's obvious, he's acting all weird trying to hide it." Enzan opened his eyes and peeked over at Lan with a fleeting glance. "Where is Zero anyway?" Alright, he missed him a little too, he was just about the only thing that made sitting in his room for weeks on end tolerable, he was like...well...he was kinda like Lan. So what, he'd just gotten use to him, that's all.

"With Megaman and my dad." Lan replied. Megaman again, at this very moment, was being examinated in some way Lan figured he'd probably never be able to understand. Honestly he didn't know what would come of all of this, if anything at all. A part of him thought that trying to fix Megaman was futile, he was lucky to still be alive in that body now, but another part of him refused to believe it was all futile, something had to come out of all of that work. "Man, he really misses Blues too. I don't get it."

"Yeah, if they both miss each other, why the hell are they still doing it?"Enzan honestly couldn't see the point, Blues wasn't the type to actually miss anyone, especially someone like Zero. So since the very unlikely chance was a reality, why didn't he just go find Zero? ...No...Enzan could understand Blues' behavior, thinking of it now, if he was in the same position, Enzan knew he'd probably...no, definitely act the same way. Blues had been constantly fighting, ignoring, pushing for Blues to leave him alone, and now that by some miracle it had actually happen. He couldn't just dispute what he'd said now, even if he wanted to, such words would compromise his pride, saying such a thing would be admitting defeat, admitting fault, committing some inviable wrong against himself And he couldn't do that, not now, not to Zero. "..." Enzan sighed to himself, well, it was only 2 more days, they could stay away from each other for 2 more days. It was actually a little amusing, watching Blues act this way.

"I dunno." Lan felt the elevator slow to a stop and watched the doors roll open to the sterile, white tiled floors and hard, white concrete walls, florescent lights hung buzzing from the ceiling. Enzan grabbed his hand again and began leading him through the rounded tunnels that resembled hallways, the path forked between the left and right, Enzan took the left.

Enzan looked around and could tell that this place had been rebuilt at once time in it's existence, possibly to add structural support to an old set of passages under the much newer hospital.' This place is old...' He thought to himself, reaching his hand out and running his fingers across the wall as a child would do. It was cold, distinct down here, the lighting was plain at best, and everything was unremarkable compared to the design put in upstairs. But none the less, he liked it anyway, it was a change from the gallery like settings of the upper floors, knowing that a place like this existed in a place like that, made him appreciate it all even more.

"So what I got lost." Lan said, silently counting off how many doors he'd passed by, how many times this hall branched off into another one. "This place isn't like a maze, it is a maze. It's not my fault I found the parking garage instead."

Enzan smiled with smug amusement "You ended up in the parking garage? You just have no sense of direction." Enzan, even with his lack of memory, did have a fairly developed sense of direction, he rarely ever got lost, and was good at finding his way. It was why he felt fairly confident in himself when he was down here, it was time consuming, and he retained the interest of a child trying to draw his way out of a maze on paper. He kind of...enjoyed looking around down here...well, he had anyway. With his strength seeming to decline he couldn't do it as much as he pleased, he was isolated more and more to his room.

Enzan finally came to the door Lan couldn't seem to find, slipping into the pitch black storage room that he doubted anyone would ever feel the need to look into. At that moment he was glad it was as dark as it was, his hands seemed to lose strength and a strange tingling seemed to come over him when he clinched Lan's hand. All feeling left his legs and he faltered, "!" Enzan stumbled forward a few steps, but as soon as Lan felt the tug he pulled Enzan back, saving him from falling flat on his face.

"Enzan? What was that?" Lan fumbled blindly along the wall until he found the light switch and the room was flooded with illumination. "Are you alright?"

Enzan took in deep, heavy breathes, feeling fatigue crash on him like a wave that soaked his whole body, but he quickly shook his head, as if Lan could see the gesture. "It was nothing, I just tripped over something." He lied, quickly letting go of Lan's hand and subtlety staggering forward towards the familiar hole in the ground marking a hatch. His legs seemed like they were falling asleep as he walked, going so numb he could barely feel them.

The moment he got inside of the secluded room he stumbled to the bed and fell in face first on to the softness.

Lan move slowly, admiring the features of the room over again as if rediscovering it all. His eyes settled on the shelf on the other end of the enclosed room, looking over the selection of books and journals that resided there. "You ever read any of those?" Lan asked curiously.

Enzan lifted his head weakly, feeling the life and sensation slowly return to his legs as he caught his breath and took his weight from them, though he wasn't sure what brought on the sudden fatigue. "A little bit of one...once." He said dismissively.

"I wonder who the person who built all of this was? " Lan said out loud in a mumbling voice, his eyes reassessing the room for some clue. 'I bet someone found this place before us.' He thought to himself. ' Somebody had too'..."Maybe they knew it was here when they were building the hospital."

"Maybe, Maybe not."Enzan shrugged, wondering what brought along this sudden line of questioning from Lan. "This hospital is the oldest one in the city, it's been around about 150 years."

"How'd you know that."

"I've seen the ads."

Lan finally seemed to give up on the curiosity and sat down on the bed beside Enzan, slowly easing himself on to his back and staring up listlessly at the ceiling, his arms resting comfortably behind his head. "Enzan...are you alright?" He finally asked, noticing that Enzan hadn't moved from that position in a while, it was quite odd, mainly because half of his body was hanging off the side of the bed.

Enzan lifted his head again, his expression dozy and annoyed as though he was well on his way to a peaceful sleep, and Lan had woken him up. "I'm fine." He said, not giving the question a strand of thought as he always did. He finally pulled himself completely onto the bed and spilled out loosely beside Lan, closing his eyes. He could have fallen asleep right here and not minded one bit...Then he opened them again, narrowed in anger. "Dammit, I just moved from one bed to another." It was times like this he was reminded how sick he was of being in this hospital. He was angry and annoyed because for some reason it seemed this was all he had the strength remaining to do. There was this ominous trapped feeling, as if he'd never get out of here.

Lan just laughed out loud, though Enzan wasn't nearly as amused. "Don't feel to bad, you might get some permanent company in here pretty soon."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well..." Lan smiled nervously, almost as if he was embarrassed about it all. It could be said with a certainty that he wasn't happy about it. "Remember when I told you my dad was making me go in for physical?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well the first time when they were taking blood from me I almost passed out." Lan started, he felt like he could kick himself when he said this next part. "Then just when I was about to leave, 2 steps from the door--"

"You passed out." Enzan said simply, if Lan didn't know him well enough he would have sounded a little callus,. Though he held a good level of concern for Lan's heath, he didn't really hear anything new. And this didn't entice something in him enough to feel anything notable.

"I couldn't breathe." Lan said simply, as if it was his fault, some clumsy mistake on his behalf. "When I came back today they found some blood in my lungs."

"Huh?"

"I haven't even got to worst part yet, they said there was something eating away at them. And they also said they think I have some type of blood poisoning cause this hole in my head wont heal."

"Then...why...why are you here?" Enzan asked, completely perplexed, as if this was something he couldn't phantom.

"What do you mean?"

"Lan your such an idiot. I mean why are you here? Why are you with me? Why aren't you-"

"In my room?" Lan interrupted, smiling with amusement."I could say the same thing to you. Blues told me you freaked-"

"You better not say what I think your about to say." Enzan growled in aggravation. "I didn't freak out, it was a..." Enzan folded his arms and looked away, it was a anxiety attack, or at lest that's what they told him. They also told him that they found an unknown substance, some kind of film that had built over muscles and a kidneys that was slowly corroding away his muscles. Burning through fat first, before it actually reached the firmer, more dense sections beneath him. He'd lost 2 pounds since yesterday. "Never mind, it was nothing." It didn't dawn on him until this moment what that unknown substance could be, only that it wasn't something naturally produced in the body, then he knew what it was for sure now. "The tanks!" He said with a sudden realization.

"What?"

"Remember back on the island when those tanks exploded? And when I told you what was in side was highly flammable?" It made sense now, of course it got into his blood, when he covered Lan there had to be million things that cut him. It was all over the place, Lan could have easily inhaled it and didn't know it. Enzan didn't have that problem since he wasn't breathing at the time, so it wasn't eating away his lungs, just every place else. "I think you inhaled some of the liquid inside."

"Heh heh, I guess it was worth sneaking out then." Lan laughed. "My dad can't be mad now."

"Hn..." Enzan closed his eyes and sighed to himself, so they both where here now, in the same position. Enzan felt like he'd failed, he had gotten some sense of accomplishment in knowing Lan hadn't ended up like he did, it had made this all worth it. At first out of some arrogant sense of pride and superiority in saving someone like Lan, but after a while he realized he just wanted to protect him, it was simple, for the first time in his life all of his thinking had actual made something simple. Though, as always, his mind drifted to feelings of being trapped.

Lan glanced over at Enzan and watched him thoughtfully it seemed the other boy was nothing more then tired...but..., 'Geez Enzan, what's wrong with you?' He felt a deep sinking in the pit of his stomach, he was worried, so strongly that it swelled in his chest in a burning heat. He didn't know why he was so worried, worried about Enzan, worried about Megaman, worried about Zero...well, actually he could list every reason why he was worried about all of them, it just seemed like too much for this to all end well. "Enzan..." Maybe he was just worrying too much about this, maybe Megaman was right.

Maybe- '!' "!" Lan flinched when his focused was forced into reality and he found his lips pressed against Enzan, hard eyes staring piercingly into his.

Enzan smirked, watching Lan's every reaction and taking an amused enjoyment in the startled look on his face. "Lan thinking, now I've seen it all."

Lan looked at him chastisingly. "Enzan."

"What's wrong Lan?" It wasn't like Lan to just zone out, Enzan, who generally didn't care, was at lest a little curious now. Maybe it was just because Lan had just been admitted into the hospital, the sight wasn't _that_ unfamiliar to him.

"Nothing." Lan shook his head, he shouldn't have been worried about this, he never worried like this before, why was he all of a sudden now? The was no reason to be, at lest that's what he told himself, he still couldn't rid himself of the distant sense of dread he couldn't explain or properly convey.

"Heh, really?" Enzan however had little problem reading Lan, though Lan wasn't the best at hiding things. Enzan rolled over and in one surprisingly swift somewhat commanding motion, he climbed on top of Lan and looked down at him with that same piercing expression. "Lan."

Lan shook his head nervously, "No, not at all." He said, convincing himself that he shouldn't be worrying about this. Lan lifted his hands defeatedly. "Seriously."

Enzan didn't buy it, he thought Lan was lying, and Lan was a terrible lier. But he seemed oddly set on this, so Enzan accepted it. He always liked when Lan was set on something, that set, determined, demeanor, full of unrelenting, stubborn hope... It wasn't as strong as it usually was. "Whatever Lan." Enzan passively closed his eyes, leaned down, and kissed him.

Lan sunk into the kiss and for that moment everything felt fine, everything felt alright, far away. His tongue moved timidly, passively while Enzan seemed to enjoy the shyness and his tongue played teasingly along with Lan's. Enzan was always so sure of himself, and some how Lan never was when he kissed Enzan, as if he didn't know what to do next. Enzan slowly drifted away, easing his way down to Lan's neck. To his dismay he felt his strength slipping away from him and Enzan quickly lowered himself down on to his knees, sitting atop Lan's stomach before he came crashing down.

"Un..." Lan moaned weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. He always felt a little weak around Enzan, weaker then he usually was, Enzan's strait forward, distinct confidence never failed to catch him off guard. Enzan pressed his hands against Lan's shoulders and held him down, or himself up, it wasn't clear. It felt some how right to Lan, laying here, surrounded by the heated embrace of Enzan's body on top of him, it made him feel like a questioning child with out knowledge, just a desire to learn, to have something someone older them him, no matter how subtlety, like Enzan could give to him. "En...Enzan."

Enzan held himself upright on his knees, leaning partially on Lan in an awkward way as he reached down between them and began unbuttoning his pants with hasty, half skilled movements. He pressed his hands against Lan's pelvis and relished in the feel of the warm, taunt flesh, 'He feels so...' He felt a strong swell of growing heat below his stomach at the contact of Lan's heated skin against his palms were pressed against, his fingers rubbing softly across the pail expanses with an examining quality to his movements. An uncharacteristic gentleness was taken in every movement, almost as if he was straddling something fragile or feared he'd hurt Lan. But he was taking his own pleasure from this.

He was enjoying this, he wanted to move slowly and feel over every inch of Lan's body in this manner, but it seemed his body wasn't as strong as his mind was willing. Again he felt his legs starting to numb slightly, much to his aggravation. 'Damnit...' This couldn't...not now, he wanted this too badly. Enzan grunted to himself and before he realized it he was biting down on Lan's shoulder, out of either the frustration or the strain it was imposing on him that made him tense.

Lan hissed in pain. "E-Enzan..."

Enzan lifted his head, his eyes blinking in mild confusion, his face holding a rare questioning, he hadn't even realized he was doing it. "Sorry." He apologized softly, lapping his tongue over the now imprinted area with soothing, uncharacteristically gentle licks. As Lan was just about to fully appreciate the lenient action, something equatable to the soft caresses of Enzan's hands when they were at his waist. A familiar pain shot through Enzan's leg, washing hard over him and then fading away again, propelling the boy with a sense of sudden haste.

Before Enzan realized it he found himself sprawled completely over Lan, his chin resting on Lan's shoulders and his head buried in the other boy's neck, panting with increasing harshness from the swelling heat in his groin and increasing need. Lan moaned softly underneath him, wrapping his arms around Enzan's back and bucking upwards, grinding his restricted erection against Enzan's with a timid need. Lan clinched his eyes shut, a hot flush filling his cheeks. "Un..."

Enzan pushed his hands behind Lan's back and slipped his fingers into the waist band of the boy's shorts and tugged them down to his knees. With little warning he slipped a finger into Lan's entrance, drawing a surprised yelp and making the bright flush on Lan's face grow hotter. Enzan smirked to himself, wishing that he could have seen the expression on Lan's face at that moment, but lacking the energy and will to move his head from where it lay and open his eyes, not yet anyway.

Enzan lifted his other hand from behind Lan's back and slipped it between their bodies, clinching the other boy's hard erection with a tight grip. Working in succession he penetrated Lan with another finger making slow, hard thrust, his finger tips rubbing messagingly against the sensitive inner walls. Even with his sense of urgency from failing strength, Enzan still moved slowly, his fingers caressing the crevice underneath the head of Lan's cock while his thumb rubbed over the slit, becoming quickly wet with sticky precum.

"Unn...Enzan." He cried out, "Harder..." He thrust upward into Enzan's hand, feeling the tip of his cock precede the boundaries, slipping under Enzan's shirt and touching barely against Enzan's abdomen.

Enzan smiled to himself, listening to Lan's voice, feeling the swift rise and fall of his chest and his pulse beating through his neck. He wanted nothing more then to stay here, like this until his heart was content, until he needed no more. Gods he needed this, he needed to hold someone like this, and he never realized it until the first time he wrapped his arms around Lan. He--

"En-Enzan!" Lan let out a whimpering moan, thrusting upwards into Enzan's hand one final time before his entire body spasmed and he came, releasing the thick, creamy cum in a warm coat over Enzan's hand.

"..." Enzan slowly lifted his hips as Lan lay panting with mouth open wide, taking deep breaths. 'Lan...' He smirked to himself in admiration at the sight, gently lifting his head and pressing his lips against Lan's as he pumped his hard, awaiting cock, with a few quick strokes, coating it with Lan's seed until it was sleek . 'You look amazing like that...' With his eyes still fixed on Lan he pulled back from the kiss, admiring as Lan once again fought to catch his breath, licking away the seed that remained on his hand.

Enzan wrapped his arms around Lan's legs and as soon as he found his way he began pushing into Lan's entrance, drawing another weak mummer from Lan. "Unnnaa..." The tense ring muscles tightened snuggly around the sickened cock, Enzan paused, his full length sinking slowly, teasingly into Lan's body.

"..." The numbing feeling plaguing Enzan's legs became an uncomfortable tingling. 'No...' He...he couldn't stop now, he needed this... Enzan clinched his jaw shut and pulled back, taking a quick breath he drove back into Lan, hard. The wave of pleasure that washed up across his entire form far out weight the pain that was returning to his leg and the arm he used to support himself. "L-Lan..." Enzan clinched his eyes shut and bit down on Lan's shoulder again without having known he was doing it, bucking into the tight hole with a frantic pace until he was over come with a rapturous pleasure. He cried out loudly, much louder then he'd intended or realized, and he came, filling Lan with deep spurts until the warm cum began to run down his softening cock and drip on to the bed.

Lan's clinched around Enzan conclusively, burying his head in his neck and letting out a muffled cry of pleasure and pain as he was brought to his limit for a second time. Spilling more of his seed messily across both of them...

Lan peeked both of his eyes open this time, the light was bright and new, forcing him to squint and look away. He felt ...for lack of a better term, spent, every muscle in his body lose and more relaxed then they would ever be any other time. "Enzan?" He lifted his head and looked over the limp body draped over him in a warm, firm, though lifeless mass, lifeless for Enzan anyway. "He...passed out?" He was worried at first, but on closer examination he had the barest hint of a smirk remaining a ghost on his face from a past expression.

He'd let him rest.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Day 7: Checked patterns

Tadashi scratched gingerly at the stubble growing slowly across his chin, squinting in umbrageous tribute at the sunlight shining brightly through the open blinds draping over the window. With a groan he looked away, the blinds tenting his body with a checkered patten of light and shadow, leaving the rest of the room in darkness. 'What...time is it?' Tadashi turned his head towards the night stand where the alarm clock lay, though all he saw was a blur of green light sticking out of the darkness.

To his amazement and disappointment, he'd forgotten that he couldn't see much of anything without his glasses.

"For goodness sake." Tadashi fumbled beside the alarm clock until he found his glasses, opening his mouth wide and yawning deeply. This was odd, he had to admit, it was strange, it could only be the mornings. It was because he was sleepy , the failure of memory, that had to be it, it was because he was dozy enough not to risk closing his eyes for fear he'd fall asleep again.

The alarm clock blinked 12:00 on a steady pulse. "Great..." Which mean, it had some how become unplugged for a moment, or the power had gone out sometime last night.

Tadashi, dressed in little more then a pair of boxers and a white dress shirt from the night before, made his way down stairs in a haze. He was so tired he nearly missed a step, though luckily for him he had a firm grasp on the railing. He managed to make it safely to the kitchen with out incident, where the light was more intense then ever.

"Wow, you look..." Zero tilted his head to the side and looked over the man questioningly, he was able to see every feature of his face in the bright illumination that flowed through the kitchen windows. He'd never seen a morning so bright..."Terrible."

He made it to the kitchen with Zero of course.

"Heh, you have a natural endowment for speaking without subtlety or evasion." Tadashi slipped his fingers under his glasses and rubbed his eyes , he felt like his eyes were veiled over with cement and his arms and legs were tethered with dead weight. He had to resist the urge to fall backwards into a chair and sink into a slump...what time had he gone to bed last night? Between working with Megaman and Lan being admitted into the hospital, he didn't think he actually got more then an hour or two of sleep.

"Just being honest." Zero said simply.

"Right." Tadashi opened the refrigerator and peeked his head in aimlessly, by the time he realized how long he'd been standing there staring with the door open, he had forgotten why he'd even looked inside the first place. With a downing expression, he closed the door, feeling the chill of cold air remaining on his half bare body. "What time is it?"

"7:45" Zero told him. "Wow, I can't believe you get up so early." It was so strange, Lan could sleep for hours after this, Enzan never even woke up this early. He didn't know what time Blues generally came on line, but it wasn't anywhere around here, it seemed him and Tadashi were the only ones that regularly saw this hour. "I guess I'm not the only one."

Even after so much sleep deprivation he still managed to wake up nearly on time. "It's habitual I guess." Tadashi smiled sleepily. "You and me both I see."

Zero smiled, he loved when Tadashi smiled, he always reminded him of Lan, especially in the mornings, mornings like this especially. "It's really bright out..."

Tadashi, subconsciously glancing towards Zero first, raised half balanced onto his toes, it was enough for him to peer over the top of the refrigerator and look around with blurry vision. Regretfully he lowered himself down in failure, though not before he heard Zero snicker. He frowned"I'm not short." Tadashi said defensively.

"I didn't say that." Zero lifted his hands innocently, grinning wildly. He loved seeing Tadashi do such actions, it made him seem smaller then he actually was, that too reminded him of Lan. As much of what he did reminded him of Lan, there were many more things about Tadashi he simply admired because they his own, like when he smiled, it made him feel like no matter what was happening to him, everything was fine...

The sunlight dimmed and the kitchen became darker, shadows creeping into the corners. A cloud drifted in front of the sun.

'I wonder...what is happening...to me...' He thought to himself, but even that thought, that worry was far away somewhere too distant to be a concern.

The cloud passed and the light returned to the room, just as brightly as ever. Tadashi made his way over to the sink curiously and and pried open the window, being tall enough to stick his head out as a wondering child and observe the day outside. He felt the heat of the sun's bright rays, even more luminous from outside, and the pulsing, rhythmic breeze of cool wind that blew across his face, and through the window to his entire body. He smiled, that felt good, but it wasn't enough to wake him as much as he'd hoped it would. "Yeah...it is pretty bright out." He was still dead tired...

Zero's grin turned into a content smile, "Yeah." he said. Studying how much more content the man looked now. "I wonder how that feels." He thought aloud, if Tadashi liked such a thing as the feel of sunlight and wind on a warm day, it must have been something that felt good. He wondered...

Tadashi looked back and laughed softly. "Curious?"

"Not really." He said, though he was, his mind was elsewhere, focused on Tadashi impishly. "Just wondering when your gonna admit you forgot where you put the coffee. "

Tadashi laughed out loud this time, a single hand cuffing his chin and his fingers rubbing across the faint stubble, one of many habitual traits that came when he was thinking. "Was it that obvious?"

"Yeah." Zero nodded, he was getting to know the man pretty well... "Look on the counter."

"?" The counter? Tadashi's face contorted queerly, the counter? He looked around with quick, intuitive glances. He didn't think he'd miss it in a place as obvious as that, he couldn't have, he would have found --. "Oh...So there it is." His face flushed with embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head, he was too busy looking as deeply as he could that he'd missed what was sitting right in front of him. "Couldn't see the forest for the trees I guess."

"Heh heh." Zero had gathered enough to know that this wasn't generally a normal habit for the man...but it did happen quite often, Tadashi occasionally missed the obvious for looking to deeply. Maybe it was just the mornings.

Tadashi anxiously went about the task of preparing it, his movements slow though holding it's usual distinct, mechanical purpose, even when half asleep. "You've been around here a lot more lately." Tadashi said, watching the pot like a child roaming the aisles of a toy store and wanted everything he saw.

Zero didn't think much of the statement, but before he could contract of a simple response, questioning thoughts began to creep into his mind. 'Maybe I've been annoying him?' He thought to himself. 'Maybe I've just been bothering him.' A million other strands of doubt flooded into him all at once and Zero shrank and looked away subtlety. "Yeah well..." Usually he didn't listen to the voice in his head, but this time it seemed to be agreeing with his own thoughts and making a lot of sense, he couldn't tell what he'd said to himself and what had come to him from some inexplicable place. Maybe he'd finally had enough? Maybe he'd just stop liking him, maybe something in the man would realize...

"Is something wrong?" Tadashi asked, peering down curiously at Zero. By now he held a steaming cup of coffee in his hand with third missing from the mug he always used.

Zero blinked, his face completely blank for a second that felt like forever. He'd just...drifted off, for how long he didn't know, and worst of it he didn't remember a thing. Why...why... did that...Zero smiled as he always smiled, shaking his head. "Nah, just thinking..." He felt his hand trembling at his side, and soon after his legs shook with a fearful, anxious tension, a fear more of being found out then of anything else. A part of him realized the absurdity of this feeling, feeling so nervous and afraid of Tadashi suspecting any of the strange things happening to him, yet wanting to be found out. There was a clear devision with in him, clearer then he'd ever felt it before. He felt like that very devision was peaking. 'This is stupid.' He thought, swallowing hard. 'Tadashi...I should...' He wanted to talk to Tadashi, in a different way then he had wanted to talk to Megaman. That time he'd wanted to tell Megaman, even while a conscious part of him protested strongly, simply because he'd thought Megaman would hate him and...

This time the conscious part of him...his entire self whole heartedly wanted to tell Tadashi, it was a decision, not a driving, instinctive urge, an impulsive one at that. Though it worried him that he couldn't control that impulsive urge, one of many things, parts of his being that he couldn't account for when he should have been able to...

"Are you sure?" Tadashi asked, generally he would have taken the answer for what it was and left it at that, but a concerned curiosity nagged at him, like something in what he heard kept this from being finished in a way. Zero had sounded half distracted, there no way he could accept that for an answer, especially when his mood had deteriorated so suddenly. "You seem off."

Zero looked up at him for a long moment, staring at the man with a saddened longing, looking visibly as if there was something he wanted to express but saw something that made him fearful to do so. Tadashi blinked and adjusted his glasses with a questioning in his eyes, It wasn't him he was afraid of was it? What was it that made Zero afraid to speak to him about this? Was he afraid of some kind of reaction? Or was he afraid of saying what he was going to say? Maybe he just wasn't comfortable saying it? Tadashi sighed, slowly easing himself into a chair and taking a sip of coffee. He was more confused then ever, was something wrong? Or was Zero just afraid to say it. "Zero?"

"Well... I guess I just wanted to say that some weird things have been happening to me..." Zero finally said, once he began speaking it was easier to keep going, it was comparable to releasing a dam and letting a pint back river flow freely again. "Like just now...I dunno, one minute I was looking at you, and the next it was just static, like I fell asleep or something."

"Really?" Tadashi leaned forward, more interested, he hadn't expected for Zero to tell him something like this.

Nervously, half rambling with anxiousness, Zero went down the list of things, glitches or something to that effect he'd been experiencing with increasing frequency. Even though it was awkward and uncomfortable, he was willing to divulge every instance, every detail about the time he could spare, and go even farther in-depth about every single twinge sensation during each episode. All for Tadashi's sake, he just hoped the man was satisfied with it.

Tadashi's second cup of coffee sat empty be side him, one arm sitting on the table with his head resting on it while the other sat in his lap. His eyes were fixed inconsistently on Zero, at times averted upwards toward the ceiling in deep contemplation, other times out the window when he was half listening and already anxiously trying to device an explanation for something he'd heard.

Zero felt a little more comfortable then he thought he would have, but there was still a burning feeling of bareness, of defenselessness, as if he was standing under a spotlight before the world. Tadashi felt to him even more then ever as if he was some omnipresent force that was deciding his fate, maybe it was because he admired him so much. "..."

"Interesting..."

Zero lowered his head, he felt a disappointed that it was all Tadashi had to say about it. He was relieved that it wasn't something negative, but either way he wanted something more from the man. He wasn't sure what it was, but he wanted to hear _something_ from Tadashi. "Hn..."

Tadashi smiled, wishing he could reach out at the moment, slip his hand under Zero's helmet and ruffle his hair like he'd done to Lan so many times. The look on his face reminded him of a chastised puppy. "You seem to be handling it well."

"Yeah, I guess..." Zero shrugged, he didn't know what he wanted to hear, but that smile was a good start, it made him feel that for the first time in his life he'd done something right, even if he hadn't really done anything at all.

Tadashi kept smiling with a slight contempt, but he sighed to himself, he felt that he was never very good at cheering people up, he always felt like he was doing it wrong. "Well, since you've been so open with me, I guess that it's only fair I tell you something about my self." He said, his eyes were averted absentmindedly to the ceiling and his words were careful, as if he thought out everyone before he spoke.

Zero looked up at him. "Huh? Really? Like what?" That...he didn't realize it but he felt better, that was what he wanted to hear, or at lest something to that effect. Hearing him say that made revealing all of that seem worthwhile, and he'd go through all the feelings of awkwardness he'd felt before again just to get back to this point.

Tadashi nodded. "Anything you wanna know."

"Anything?"

"Un-huh."

"Well..." Zero slipped his finger under his helmet and scratched his head with a sheepish grin growing across his face, but then it faded. He had been excited when Tadashi posed him with this, but now that he thought about it, he didn't really know what he would ask. Some intimidate, deep secret? ...No...maybe...something he himself could relate to. "What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?"

"The worst thing huh?" Tadashi looked at him as though he was a little surprised at the question, then his eyes rolled to the window with an unfocused thoughtfulness in his expression. He'd never thought that Zero would ask him something so...well, serious, he had thought something more trivial would come about. He saw a deeper hunger in Zero's eyes, a curiosity for something equally as deep, a connection, some kind of connection he needed to know was there. It was interesting. Normally he would have just said something that was bad but held little bearing to him, but Tadashi couldn't lie to him at the moment, he found himself unwilling."Well... When I was younger-"

"Define younger."

"What, you think I'm old?"

"I don't know what to think."

Tadashi's expression dampened slightly, first short, now old? "9." Tadashi clarified, then cleared his throat and continued. "Well...I got hit by a car." Tadashi said, his thoughtful demeanor fading for a more uncertain one.

"A car?" At this point, Zero didn't know what to make of it.

Tadashi felt like Zero was expecting something more. "Well, the odd thing about it was that it was my father." Tadashi explained, speaking in a slow, reserved voice.

"Really?" Zero leaned forward with a resentful interest, if this was the worst thing that happened in Tadashi's life then he didn't want to make him remember anymore. If the man stopped, if he paused for a moment, he'd find away out of this, but...in some morbid curiosity, some sense to feel a little closer, he wanted him to persist.

"I nearly died, and I spent 6 weeks in the ICU, and it was 6 months before I could go home. Then a year after that in physical therapy." Tadashi spoke with a repressed tone, hinting at an apprehension or resentment, all traces of it's normal inquisitive nature was gone, it was muddled with a stagnant mixture of old emotions.

"It was that bad?" Zero asked.

"I missed an entire year of school."

"But didn't you skipped like two grades?"

"Yeah..." Tadashi nodded. "My father...well..."

Zero heard the pause, a reluctant drop usually in Tadashi's normal direct, fluent voice. He saw the look in his eyes, this searching look, something that looked for the meaning he sought in every problem he faced. "N...Nevermind." He felt bad when he saw that look on his face, something so subtitle, but he'd learned Tadashi's normal demeanor, he could see such a change. But yet...he felt glad that he'd ask, he'd opened himself up to Tadashi, and Tadashi had done the same thing, he didn't feel nearly as embarrassed, as empty, as shameful as he had before. Zero smiled to himself. 'Tadashi...'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !


	20. Chapter 19: Infallible

Chapter 19: Infallible

_The stationary warm front and high pressure that's been around is moving out, and with it is going the unseasonably warm weather we've been experiencing over the past weeks. An area of rain showers is coming in from up north with cold front, we should see rain coming in at about noon with growing winds, that means a big wind chill. The temperature is going to drop over night to high 40s, low 50s and..._

Seven days had passed, the week was over.

Blues slowly rose, arduously sitting upright, crossing his legs and folded his arms. He open his mouth wide and yawned, like a crowbar preying open a crate he felt himself being slowly separated from his sleep and from his sharply rising awareness, he knew he wouldn't be able to return to it. He was sluggish having just woken up, he wasn't sure what it was that made him feel this way, this heavy weight, this lagging, this sleepy fatigue. Maybe it was all of his systems coming coming back on line one by one after leaving sleep mode, or maybe it was the diagnostics his body was running. '...' Blues scowled and closed his eyes, he felt guilty at the thought of running diagnostics, and it was all because of that annoying bastard Zero. ' Baka...' Blues knew Zero was fixated on the fact that he was a virus, self loathing and all, and Zero always argued that he was afraid of him. And Blues always yelled back that he wasn't, and that Zero was an idiot. Then eventually it came time to do diagnostics and such, and Zero's words embedded themselves so deeply in his thoughts that he felt like the only reason he was doing it was because, well, he might be infected.

He wondered, did Zero think that? Blues peaked one eye open and looked around silently, almost as if he feared someone would see him thinking like this and wanted to make sure no one was in the area before he made his next thought. Maybe Zero did think he was afraid of him...'Of course he does, he's an idiot.' Yeah, maybe he did, maybe that's why he hasn't showed up yet.

It was only six, the first rays of dim light peaked through the window of room 1306. Enzan was still asleep, and he would be for a few more hours, Blues was sure Lan, and subsequently Megaman, was still sleeping. And normally he would still be too. '...He's probably with them...' Zero always woke up at insane hours, Blues even wondered some time if he slept at all, did half-viruses have a sleep mode? Did a half Navi's for that matter? '...' Blues slowly leaned backwards and laid on the ground, resting his arms behind his head and staring upwards. Zero was probably awake right now.

Seven days had passed, the week was over. So...shouldn't he have come back by now? Blues narrowed his eyes, 'Baka, maybe he'll just stay way this time.' Why the hell was he wondering about this anyway? It was good that he hadn't come back, if he didn't come back anymore. That would be fine with him, he wouldn't have to deal with that annoying idiot anymore, it would just be peaceful and stress free with out him...and boring.

Damnit! This place felt so empty...no, not empty, it was too quiet, it was lifeless without Zero. Blues didn't understand it, Blues annoyed him to no end, but this place still ended up feeling devoid when he left. It was peaceful, but it was also dull as hell, as much as he resented his presence, when it was gone everything was lonely .He couldn't believe it, and he damn sure wouldn't admit it, but he missed Zero's presence, just having him here brought some kind of untold warmth, life. And he liked that life, without it he he felt...he felt..."This is all your fault Baka!" Blues growled out loud.

Yeah, Zero was probably awake right now. He wondered if he would comeback, or did Zero, like he'd accused countless times without uttering a word, feel like he was afraid of him? Zero never seemed to be able to accept an answer, and it aggravated Blues, he wanted to convince Zero if it was the last thing he did! Or maybe he thought that he was just a annoyance. Well...he was an annoyance, but he wasn't afraid of him... and...he wanted him to... 'Maybe he's acting weird again.' Blues thought...and as much as he hated to even acknowledge it, he began to worry about him. "Zero..."

"How'd you know I was here?"

'!' A very flustered Blues flinched at the sudden voice and sat up right hastily, quickly looking over his shoulder. "Zero?" As sure as anything could be, there he was, blue eyes bright, and that wide grin Blues had come to associate him with. He was alright...

Zero lifted his hand in small wave, his grin turning into a smile. "Geez, I guess I can't sneak up on you." He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in some habit Blues couldn't decipher. Was he nervous? Or was it just the opposite? Was he holding back? Or did he not know what to say next? What did it mean? " I-"

"What the hell are you doing surprising me like that!" Blues shouted, his voice loud and angry. An energy felt as though it had been released with his tension and swelled up inside up him with a tautness all it's own. He felt the strong urge to reach out and grab Zero with a grip as tight as he could gather and strike him. This feeling...it was relief, a strange excitement that confused Blue's senses and made him want to do things he normally wouldn't have been nearly as inclined to. He barely noticed...but there was a dwindling attribute to his voice, something underlaying. "Make some noise or something will ya!"

"It's not my fault your a hard sleeper." Zero retorted, feeling the same energy building in side of him after finally seeing Blues after so long. He knew what it was, he felt happy, he felt as excited as a child who had just received something he always wanted. At lest a little.

Blues quickly climbed to his feet and turned to face him, shaking his head rejectingly. "I wasn't asleep." He said. Almost immediately he began to feel nervous, mildly as if he'd done something wrong. It wasn't the fact that Zero had stayed away so long, it was that he feared in some way Zero felt he had to stay away because of it. He feared what thoughts might have spawned from this, that Zero might have begun to grow reluctant toward him in some queer way. Damnit, he felt like an idiot for feeling like this, this is why Zero was so annoying! He made him feel things! This was so trouble some. He shook his head, as if trying to convince himself. He didn't care, it was just that he didn't want to be misinterpreted, he told himself, if Zero wanted to stay away from him, he didn't want it to because he thought something wrong.

"Since when do you get up so early?" Zero laughed, he sat down and crossed his legs, resting his hands in his lap, still smiling, "Your always so lazy."

Blues could see it now, his face was always as Zero wanted it to be, as usual. But those eyes, as much as he hated to admit it, he knew Zero well enough to see past them. They seemed...fake."I'm not lazy." Blues retorted, folding his arms and pacing away a few steps.

"Yeah right, you are lazy."

"It's not my fault that some of us have to sleep." Blues replied in his usual condescending tone.

"How much does a Navi really have to sleep?"

"When do even you sleep?" Blues finally asked, curious, though careful to seem indifferent.

"Huh?" Zero stared at him for a moment, until the aggressive, argumentative expression faded and a questioning one came. He started to feel uneasy, what was he suppose to say to this? He felt like something was wrong with him, and in a way there was, and he was embarrassed to say something about it. He blushed and looked away, clinching his hands together nervously. "Well...I uh, uh..."

"?" Blues watched him fumble with a morbid curiosity, the same one that came over him when he watched Zero try to hide something, or zone out Such a phenomenon was comparable to seeing a train wreak happen or the remains of a car wreak, he didn't want it to happen, he knew it was something he shouldn't want to watch, but he couldn't look away. There was definitely something wrong. "What? Stop staring there like an idiot and say something already."

"I...I..."Zero stared at the ground, speaking timidly and shyly "I don't sleep..."

"What?"

Zero quickly lifted his head and looked at him resentfully, "I said I don't sleep." He grunted angrily hating that he had to repeat it and that he couldn't stop the embarrassed flush from coming to his cheeks.

Blues folded his arms and looked at him with a chastising glare. "You are such an idiot, you always have that dumb look on your face." He said immediately, quickly trying to hide his astonishment with his usual indifference. He pridefully wouldn't show any surprise, because if he did Zero would feel even worse and everything would become awkward. And awkward was never good. 'He doesn't go to sleep, ever?' Zero never went off line, at all?

Zero didn't look up, he merely grunted in a low, half mumbling voice, still blushing ashamedly. He was never restricted by pride as Blues was, no, he was rarely focused on how others would perceive him when he did things. There was this distorted morality, distorted values that he felt his very existence didn't adhered to, and he was often ashamed by it. "It can't be worse then that look on yours." He wasn't sure what always made him fight back at Blues, why he only felt safe, why he always had a comfortable contentment when they argued. Maybe he was naturally defensive.

Blues looked over him with quick, studying, sideways glances, attempting to understand the half-Navi more deeply then just his words. But eventually he gave up, shaking his head as he eased himself down to the ground again. "It's too early to deal with you ." He said coldly. It was easier not to get involved with people, it was better to stay away, then he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of figuring them out or worrying about them.

"Aw, your just mean."

"You haven't been here 5 minutes and your all ready wining." Blues smirked with amusement.

"Whatever." Zero rolled his eyes and looked away again... Suddenly, Zero's eyes widened and he cringed , a tense breath forcing it's way out of his clinched jaw. "!" His body became tensely rigid and a chill crawled up his spine that shook his entire being.

"?" Blues leaned forward, uncertain of what he should think of it. He hated it, he knew what road he was going down and he was powerless to stop himself. It was a rush, like a rising tide swallowing his body. He didn't understand, he didn't know what that was, and with Zero it could have been anything. Blues quickly became worried, though not without an equal share of resentment, he hated feeling like this. "Zero?"

Zero stared in the distance blankly, only able to sit in stare in a fearful amazement as everything began to pull away from him, reality was only a sheet and some great force pinched it in the center of his vision and began drawing it back. The horizon was pulled together like a sheet collapsing in on itself, it moved so fast, he felt as he was as if he was standing on the edge of a great water fall and watching the fast moving liquid speed away from him. Color began to stream like wet paint dripping off of a canvas turned upside down, everything was in a chaotic disarray, was this it? Was this the end of the world? Was this the end of his existence? "Un...ua..." Zero lifted his hands, but he didn't feel his arms raising or the strain on his muscles of sustaining them there, as if he'd done nothing at all, as if he'd had no arms at all. He stared at them, his mouth hanging open, it was all in a distorted, colorless gray scale.

"Zero?"

'I've felt this...before...' Everything was a million miles away, even Blue's voice seemed to be getting farther...was he leaving? ...No, don't leave...

_Zero_

'What is...happening?' The distant voice and what little he could see of the blurry world faded away in a roar of static, like a n infinitely hard rain or thousands of nails falling to the ground in an endless clatter. His body, it was light...he couldn't feel it anymore, he couldn't feel anything. In fact...he was floating, equivalent to water, to space, trying to reach the surface, trying to drift away, but yet something still was holding him down, chaining him down...

"Zero!"

That hard, sharp voice brought the world flying back at him at a terrifying pace, he flinched, fearing it would all slam into him once like a brick wall. Blue's quickly reached out and caught him before he could fall onto his back. "Blues..." For a moment he felt like he was in shock, he could move, he could feel everything, but his mind was blank, and he couldn't draw up the thought to will his body into motion. He could only stare at Blues sitting right in front of him, his hands on Zero's shoulders and his eyes fixed piercingly into his.

"What the hell was that?" Blues half shouted, confused, almost unnerved. He hated worry, it felt too much like fear, he hated concern, it felt too much like pity, it was too closely tied to worry. Would it not be easier to never have allowed himself to know Zero so well, so that he didn't always have this anxious concern for Zero. Wouldn't have been easier not to have had any connection with Zero at all then to always feel this traitorous worry every time something unsure happened to the half-Navi.

Zero stared at him for no more then a second longer before he smiled again, just as always and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I can sleep."

"?" Blues stared at him, there that look again, that smile, like he hadn't done anything. He just sat there and stared for 2 minutes, something clearly was wrong. "What?"

Zero shook his head and looked away again. "Nothing." he said discardingly, dismissing the spasm and sudden black out as any number of irrelevant things. He was half a virus, it could have just been that. He had to quickly divert his thoughts to keep from blushing, with ashamed embarrassment. He felt vulnerable, he hated out of anyone for Blues to see his faults, maybe it was because he wanted to keep some measure of himself for Blues. Or because Blues was so brashly and comfortably open about him being a virus that Blues had set up some standard, which didn't include glitches, didn't want to let him down. "…Actually…" Zero started down at the ground like a nervous child who had to admit to the most vile crime to someone who would be let down the most by it, his finger subconsciously played along each other in his lap, a clear uncertainty coming in his voice and form.

Blues was confused at the sudden chance in demeanor, Zero wasn't the type of person to change moods quickly, it was always a gradual process. It made him uneasy, "What?" His arms lowered slowly to his sides and turned around fully.

"… This place feels different"

"Not this again..."What? What the hell did he mean by that? Blues looked at Zero's back for a moment, he couldn't seem to under stand why something like that would cause such a reaction. Maybe there was a deeper meaning in that? Maybe he just didn't understand him...Blues' mind exhausted all the possibilities he could think of and couldn't figure out why he would become so shy over that question. "No. Why?"

"I don't know." Zero shrugged, "It just seems like…I don't know, nothing feels the same anymore." He said. It was odd, it was strange, unnatural almost numbing, the only way he could describe it. It was a subtle thing, like the feelings and sensations that came from all of his usual places were dulled more then ever. 'It really is just me. What's wrong with me…' ...No, he knew what was wrong with him, he was a virus, that was wrong with him. He held his head down in silent contemplation, his face dawning a silent, solemn thoughtfulness that gave a depressing air all it's own. 'There probably was never anything right with me in the first place.' He was out side of his friends now, beyond them; they were incapable of even thinking of what he was and he knew it. He had done something which even he had not thought possible, he didn't just resent himself, he was afraid of himself, he wasn't sure of what he was, or what he'd unwittingly do.

'What's the matter with him?' He didn't like it, seeing the distressing look on his face, it was something strange and foreign for Zero. "Whatever your talking about, it's probably nothing." Blues retorted indifferently.

"Really? How do you know?" Zero shot back with anger, more at the fact Blues was just disregarding his concerns as nothing. Then he receded again, No, Blues was right, this was nothing, Blues shouldn't have to be concerned with this. Blues didn't care, Zero nodded to himself in wordless agreement, no, he was probably just annoying the Navi. Yeah, that was it. That was probably why he was so anxious to kick him out for a week. Before he had a chance to recant his response, Blues spoke again.

"Because you don't even make sense." Blues said, Zero never failed to perplex him.

"...Maybe." How could he expect Blues to understand...no, maybe Blues was the only one who did understand, Blues was afraid of him, and rightfully so, and he didn't exactly like him, as he rightfully shouldn't have... Even knowing all of that deeply, he couldn't help wanting to be around him, there was always this feeling of belonging, of being wanted when he was around Blues.

"Instead of whining about it-"

"I'm not whining." Zero objected immediately.

"-Why don't you go talk to Enzan, or Tadashi, I'm sure they can do more about it then I could."Blues suggested, seriously, he hated seeing Zero like this, he hated knowing something could turn such a person as Zero into this self-hating half-virus.

"Heh." Zero just smiled and looked away. "They're doing their own thing, they don't want to be bothered with me."

If Blues didn't know any better, he'd say _that_ sounded a bit self loathing. "Your always making excuses." He said, his voice as cold and arrogant as always. "The sign of a truly lazy person."

"I am not lazy!" Zero retorted angrily. "Why would they bother, I'd probably just infect everything anyway."

"Who's to say you would?"

"Why wouldn't I, just because I don't want to, doesn't mean I wouldn't." Zero said, the self-loathing evident clearly in his voice now, he was much to busy trying to convince Blues of his non-worth to hide it. " They wouldn't, they'd be too afraid I'd spread the virus." He said this with no resentment what so ever, just as if he was stating a simple fact.

"For goodness sake!" Blues growled. "No one's afraid your gonna do that! The only person worried about it is you! Your just too stupid to realize it!"

Zero looked up at him, his mouth open as if he wanted to say something, he wanted to define all of the things, feelings, thoughts, realizations he had clearly and scream it at Blues at the top of his lungs to make him understand. Then he just folded his arms and looked away again, he couldn't yell at him for some reason, he tried to belt his words out but all the came out was a choked sound just above a whisper."You are."

It wasn't more then a second after Zero spoke those words that a swift kick came pounding into his chest "!" Before he realized it he was pin down painfully to the ground by Blues' foot.

"What did you just say?" Blues growled fearsomely.

Well, Blue's was already angry now, Zero felt no desire or need to hold back anymore, "Well, you are!" With a grunt he reached up and grabbed Blue's leg and gave him a sharp, repelling push, hard enough to send the Navi tumbling on to his back. With little hesitation he scrambled on to his hands and knees and climbed on top of Zero, holding him down with his weight.

"What the hell!" Blues sent a sharp punch to the side of Zero's face, disorienting Zero enough to force his grip on his shoulders to loosen, but not enough to let go. "If you say that one more time I'm gonna pound your face into the ground!"

Zero bit back a hiss of pain and shook his head. "As apposed to now!"

"It can get worse!" Blues' hands darted up and clasped Zero's neck, and he squeezed, lightly though, just enough to gain enough leverage to start to push Zero back.. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Zero reached up and clinched at Blues' hand's around his neck and tried to pry him away, despite his best attempts he found himself caving under Blues' strength, being forced back farther and farther until Blues was off of his back and the bother were on their knees. "You...are!" He shot back, his voice strained and breathless from the pressure on his throat. "Don't lie! I've...I've seen it!" Zero thrust his head forward and slammed it into Blues, the Navi immediately cringed and withdrew in pain. "I'm not blind! I'm not stupid!" Zero erupted in a frustrated, pint up anger that just would dull, pointing accusingly.

"You are stupid!" Blue's rebutted with equal intensity, one hand clinching his head in pain and the other clinching into a tight fist at his side. "What is it going to take to get it through that thick head of yours!" He yelled, punctuating his harsh words with strait pinch to Zero's nose.

Zero couldn't contain the small yelp of pain that slipped out of his mouth, he stumbled backwards, somehow managing to make it clumsily to his feet Then with a furious growl he bolted forward and tackled Blues' into the ground, with enough force to send them both sliding backwards. "Your just lying! I can see it when you look at me sometimes..." It was frustrating! Why didn't he just say it! Why didn't Blues just admit it? Zero had a burning need, this fire that wouldn't be extinguished until he heard Blues admit it, until what he felt on the inside was finally inflicted on the outside. It would hurt, but a part of him wanted it that way, it would ease his conscious, already guilty from his own existence, and make him feel as though he was getting just what he deserved. He felt like crying.

"You imbecile, Your so fixed on hating yourself, that your imagining things!" Blues slipped his leg between himself and Zero and kicked the half-virus in the stomach, flinging him off roughly. He immediately climbed to his feet, before Zero could manage to recover, and charged at him.

"Your always saying stuff like 'I'll get infected' or-"

"I wasn't serious dumb ass--"

"You were serious!" Zero lifted up his foot and drove it into Blues' stomach just as his charge began to encroach dangerously, Zero could only watch as the air was forced from Blues' lungs and the Navi stumbled to the ground, clinching his stomach damaged with the force of Zero's kick and his own speed. "At lest...more then you thought you were." Zero finished.

"How...the hell are you...gonna tell me...how serious I was!" Blues sputtered out, coughing in-between gasping breathes. Persistently, he sat up, his arms still wrapped tightly around his abdomen.

But he didn't get a chance to stand before Zero heedlessly dived at him, crashing painfully into his chest and sending both of them pounding to the ground with an audible slam. Zero quickly pinned Blues' arms to his side before he could recover." I know you were! Cause if you weren't, you wouldn't have been so anxious to kick me out!"

"That's because your annoying!" Blues shot back, lifting his head slowly and leaning as close to Zero's face as his elevation could take him, struggling ferociously to free himself, like a wild beast having been taunted.. "Like your being now! I'm not _afraid_ of you, I just don't like you!"

"Admit it! Damnit! Admit it!" Zero yelled desperately! Why didn't say it! Just say it! "Damnit! I know you! Why don't you just admit it, I already know for sure..." Zero shifted his eyes away, not deriving his focus from holding Zero a bit. He didn't know why, why he felt this desire for Blues to say it to him, so strongly that it felt instinctual to seek the pain it brought, inane. He wanted Blues to say it to his face. To tell him something he knew was so dreadfully atrocious... "I already screwed up Megaman, I might do the same to you..." Zero's words trailed off into a questioning silence when felt a sudden wetness.. "?" He heard a small splash of something being dripped and in almost a flinching motion he looked down, startled at what he saw. He was bleeding, blue blood dripped from his nose and he felt the metallic taste in his mouth, much to his horror. "!" Zero immediately clamped his hands over his nose.

"?" Blues felt Zero's grip loosen and he lifted his hand to his cheek, examining the liquid questioningly. Before he could utter his first word, Zero bolted away, scrambling off of him and moving backwards a few feet until he nearly lost his balance. "You are such an annoying bastard." Blues, however, was to preoccupied with anger to have any reaction Zero would have expected him too, it was as though he didn't care about it at all. He barely realized what it was, his mind was fixed on how Zero reacted to it, it was like a frightened child retreating and hiding from some unknown danger. It was enough to make him stop and pause, he could only stare for a moment almost as if in awe. 'Damnit...Zero...' Finally Blues shook his head and moved forward, and just as Zero looked back towards him, he shoved his foot into the half-virus's chest, pinning him down to the ground again, listening with a certain satisfaction at the startled outcry that came.

Zero burned with shame, immediately turning his head away as if trying to hide himself, and he was. As much as he wanted to fade away, as much as he wanted to die at that moment, as hard as it was to speak with his throat going suddenly dry . His first instinct was to make an excuse, to say something so that he could get away. "Blues' I-"

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Blues climbed on top of him, holding both of Zero's arms above his head by his wrist with one hand, and clinching him by the chin, holding his head strait with the other. But still, Zero's eyes shifted away like a timid child's, trembling, soft and afraid as he tried to free himself with great urgency, only to find Blues was stronger then he let on. "Damnit! Look at me!" He yelled, making Zero flinch and timidly meet his eyes.

"..."

"I am not afraid of you!" He said harshly...then the sharp edge in his eyes dulled, and the anger shifted into a focus, a determination. He wanted Zero to see, he needed him to see, he needed him to be able to look at him and know. "I'm not afraid of you..."

Even with Blues right here forcing him to look with a painful grip on his jaw and Blue's fingers digging into his wrist. He still couldn't see what Blues wanted him to, he didn't want to see it, but it became clear that there was no way to avoid it., Blues wouldn't let him. Zero became still, staring up at Blues with uncertainty, an the painful grip on his jaw almost felt gentle, the harsh constriction on his wrist almost felt soft. "Your...not?"

Blues was silent, and an unsure pause developed between them. There were times, seldom ones, when a rare phenomenon happened. Times where Blues would have normally felt awkward, he didn't, times where his pride normally would have screamed at him in nonintervention, it was absent, and there was only a desire that lead him to move without resistance, or hesitation. Blues slowly lifted his hand from where they pined Zero's arms and clinched into a tight fist. He watched Zero flinch as he lifted them, but no blows were thrown. Blues smirked distantly as he slowly wiped away the blue blood from Zero's mouth with a rough, harsh, strong, inexperienced gentleness. "Damnit, didn't I say that Baka?"

Zero stared at him in disbelief, his mouth hanging open, completely frozen. His normal impulsiveness quickly returned, He couldn't stop himself from grinning wildly, and in one, sudden movement he wrapped his arm around Blue's neck and hugged him tightly for the first time. "Your not that mean!" He exclaimed.

"Hey!Hey! Get the hell off of me! Let go! Let go!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Enzan grabbed onto the side of Lan's bed and moved forward with weak, limbing steps. He progressed slowly, feeling his legs trembled underneath him as he attempted to stand on them. He bit back a grunt into a tense hiss when he felt a piercing pain shoot up his left leg from constantly sore muscles. As subtly as he could manage, Enzan sat down at the edge of Lan's bed and let himself fall backwards, releasing an audible breath.

Lan sat up from where he lay, half dressed in only his shorts, and leaned over Enzan. "You alright?" He asked, his voice and his expression were unsure. He felt tense, an anxiety filled with a yearning guilt and an empathetic pity, all of it silently but strongly hinting he should be doing something for Enzan but Lan unsure of what it was.

"I'm fine." He said, waving discardingly, he didn't want to talk about it, the subject annoyed him more then anything else. The last thing he wanted to discuss was his own weakness, the last thing he wanted was for someone to have to help him, to take care of him. He hated it when people felt sorry for him of all people, even concern was mildly annoying, with the except of Lan. It made him feel weak, such concern felt so closely related to pity to him that they were interchangeable. And for someone who'd spent their entire life doing everything on the own, who'd always been independent, who never needed help, the entire world was one large group from which he was separate, and the last thing he wanted was for someone who was in that group, who had the help of others, to pity him who didn't have it nor want it.

Lan...Enzan thought, Lan seemed to be the exception. Maybe the reason could tolerate the other boy was because of the occasional looks of up most admiration he received from time to time, maybe it was because Lan admired and respected the one who'd saved his life, who'd shielded him and protected him. Enzan could take a good deal of concern and even pity from Lan because he knew Lan looked up to him like a child would an older sibling.

Lan gave him a slow, inquiring look, then shrugged acceptingly. He wasn't sure, he felt strongly that he should be doing something for Enzan, and he couldn't accept such a simple answer as 'I'm fine'. He hated it, how Enzan always did that, how he always dismissed things Lan thought were so large, so important they couldn't be ignored. How Enzan just said he was fine, or that something was no big deal when it regarded himself, especially when it regarded himself. Lan couldn't comprehend it,how could he just trivialize things. Maybe it was because he was so worried. The worst thing was that when Enzan said it, Lan always began to believe it, he couldn't help it, the way Enzan disregarded such important matters as if he had some omnipotent knowledge behind his answers. He always believed things like that when Enzan said it.. "Have you seen Zero? I cant seem to find him anywhere."

Enzan let his hands fall onto his chest, closing his eyes and taking in deep breathes. He smirked slightly at the thought, finding a silent amusement. "Yeah, he's with Blues."

"Huh? Really?" Lan scratched his head softly and looked at Enzan with a child like astonishment. "I didn't think Zero would ever go back, he didn't seem like..."

"?"Enzan peeked one eye open and glanced up at Lan, "Really, I'm surprised he actually stayed away. It's not like Blues ever really means what he says to him."

Lan could only shake his head and sigh,"You know how Zero is. I just can't believe I didn't notice it that day." Lan was worried about Zero, but he'd always been worried about Zero, from the day he first met him. He thought about Zero a lot, he thought about how he practically killed himself out of self-loathing more then anything, it was more like suicide then a sacrifice. He always felt helpless, he didn't know how to deal with that. What could he say to Zero that would mean anything... Well, he was always hanging around his father, and Tadashi could do it better then he could anyway."I think he was going a little crazy with out Blues though, he must have been really bored."

"Heh." Enzan smirk turned into a small smile when thought about Blues, how bored he must have been without Zero, even if he wasn't going to admit it. Blues never admitted anything, but neither did he for that matter.

"What are you doing here?" Lan finally asked, he lifted his arms high above his head and opened his mouth wide in a deep yawn. Fatigue clung to him like wet clothing, making his body feel heavier, more weighted, his mind was dulled, a veil of cloudlessness covered it and shrouded his awareness in a sleepy haze. "Your in no shape to be coming all the way up here." Lan's room happened to be on the level above Enzan's, and near the other side of the hospital.

"To hell with my shape." Enzan grunted, almost resentfully, "I'm sick of this place, I can't stand it anymore."

"It hasn't been that long-"

"Not for you it hasn't." Enzan curtly interjected.

"And besides, look how tired you are coming all the way up here." Lan said, a clear concern evident in his voice.

"I'm fine." Enzan objected.

Lan lifted his hand, unseen by the other boy and sharply poked Enzan's left leg with a sharp jab from his finger, listening to the boy growl like an agitated animal. Dispite the hard glare he received, Lan folded his arms and looked at him with a satisfied expression, almost tauntingly, daring him to disagree. "Yeah, sure you are." He uttered sarcastically. "You can barely move as it is."

"Yeah, and laying around in a hospital bed is really gonna help that." Enzan retorted. His eyes slowly crept open and met with the ceiling...the ceiling in here was just like the one in his room, the same white, the same florescent light, the same everything. This place was so alike, fitted with light, pleasing, warm calming colors, how could he like this place and hate it at the same time? This didn't feel natural, by all means there was nothing wrong with this hospital, and he should have been perfectly content to take a...let's say vacation, in such a copasetic setting. But there was also this nauseating catastrophic feeling came over him at times, even when it wasn't strong, he always felt marginally trapped. "Besides, they already know what's wrong with me, when they figure out what to do about it, then I can come back. Other wise..." He wasn't going to sit around and wait for them to work through compounds, he'd send them a sample of what was in the tank and let them figure it out.

For such a complex person, Enzan's logic was always strait forward, simple, almost child like. Another thing, Lan noted, that showed his age. Lan lifted his hand to his mouth and covered another yawn, rubbing half-lidded, sleepy eyes. "Really, what they say was wrong with you?"

"Some filmy substance built up around the muscles in my legs and my arm. They say it's eating away everything." Enzan said, subconsciously resting both his hands on his stomach and softly scratching at the bandages wrapped around his right arm, when ever the thought about it he always felt like he had a cast on again.

Lan uneasily rubbed the back of his neck and his head sunk a bit. "Yeah, they said I had the same thing around my lungs and in my stomach." Hence, the coughing up blood, and the lack of air, and loss of consciousness. He'd also forgot to mention that it was starting to build in the wound on his forehead, which is why it never completely stopped bleeding. Though the blood was managing to wash it away. "This sounds pretty bad, you really should stay. I mean, at lest I can walk, you probably wont make it too far."

Enzan looked up at him with an aggravated annoyment, he resented the insinuation that he was too weak, even if he probably was, he couldn't stand having anyone think that. It was strange, for a person who preferred being alone, a person who couldn't stand people, there were a multitude of things he pridefully couldn't bare for people to think "I'll do fine. Besides, I can get a chance to send them some of what was in the tank, I can't think of any other reason I should stay. I can't lay around here, I have to get back, there's no way in hell I'll let my project fail this easily."

Lan dropped his shoulders and sighed in defeat, when he heard the words 'my project' he knew there was nothing he could do to stop Enzan. It was disappointing, Lan knew he would hate this. "Is there anything I can do or say to make you stay?"

Enzan slipped his hands behind him and sat upright."No."

Lan dropped his head and sighed, speaking timidly "It's gonna be boring in here with out you..."

Enzan glanced over at Lan silently, looking into the boy's downcast eyes...he immediately felt guilty and looked away again, remaining silent.

"Your gonna come back eventually right?"

"...Yeah, of course."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The world spun around Megaman disorientedly, every thing shifted before his eyes as if the world was contentiously being turned upside down and falling right side up again. "I...I..." His vision was only a nauseating blur, as if everything was moving so fast around him that he couldn't keep up. A noisome stir started in his stomach, his breath grew heavier and heavier and what strength he had in his legs retreated from him, it felt like like water leaking from it's container, slowly being siphoned away until before he knew it, he caved under his own weight and was falling to the ground.

"Megaman..." Tadashi quickly knelt down beside him, looking over him with a sharp concern. "Are you alright?"

"I...I can't do it." Megaman forced out in a torrent of heavy breathes, Tadashi was merely a distorted shadow in front of the florescent lights of the ceiling. "Sorry."

Tadashi was running his usual yield of test and studies on Megaman, contentiously trying to determine a solution to the glitches that plagued the former Navi. As usual, Megaman was stripped, embarrassingly, down to nothing more then his boxers with a battery of wires connected to him. Megaman was attempting to utilize as much of his body's strength as he could, but what happened every other time, of course, was fated to happen this time. When he went past a certain point of strength, of endurance, his body failed where it should have succeeded.

"It's ok. You did fine." Tadashi smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Just rest here for a while."

Megaman let his mouth fall open and sucked in deep, gasping breathes. "Hn."

As frustrating as this was for Tadashi, he was starting to make progress, though small, it was enough to set him on the right path. Once he was on that path it was hard for him to stop. This was a puzzle, a challenge, something completely different from any other in the past, almost additively he was driven to solve it. He was anticipant, a little excited even, he thought of little else since it had been presented to him, and now that he felt he was close.

He folded his arms and looked upward thoughtfully. Ever since Zero had spoken to him yesterday it had been a nagging thought. There was something, he was sure of it now, there was a connection between both Zero's and Megaman's problems. Which meant he had to talk to Zero. "That's enough for today Megaman."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Megaman." Lan slipped his hands behind him and sat up, sleepy eyes perked open and a small smile creped across his lips when he saw him.

"Lan." Megaman half stumbled into his room, his arms hanging loosely at his side, his shoulder's slumped, his eyes half lidded."How have you been doing?" he asked with is usual, friendly, comforting voice. He came to the side of Lan's bed, and the covers abruptly rushed upwards towards him as if attacking him until they abruptly slammed into his entire body with a firmness they shouldn't have carried. "Un...?" It wasn't until then that he realized he had fallen.

" Ok..." Lan leaned forward and looked over Megaman curiously, "Are you?"

Megaman lifted his head slowly rolled on to his back, letting his legs hang off the side of the bed and his feet rest on the ground. "Yeah, I'm just really tired."

Lan pried the covers off of himself and crawled to the end of the bed where Megaman lay almost lifelessly, looking down into his settled, peaceful blue eyes with a slight admiration, his gaze holding the same quality as someone admiring a sunset, or the pulsing tide of a beach. "So, how'd it go with my dad?" He asked, slowly laying down onto the bed with a lethargic breath and resting his head on his folded arms.

"Alright I guess." Megaman blinked, long and slow, as if he was debating with himself to opening his eyes again. "Your dad seems to be in a better mood then usual, I think that's a good sign."

"Hn." Lan nodded softly, "He always get so into what he does, when he starts working more it almost always means he's almost done."

"That's good." Megaman said, he felt another flush coming to his cheeks and he rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment at the thought of Tadashi studying him. He felt relieved at the possibly of being done with it all, even more so that he could be fixed. " It must be hard for you."

Lan's mouth opened wide and he yawned deeply, letting out a heavy breath. His eyes fell halfway closed and his voice was a low, half mumbling. "What?"

"Being in here." Megaman said, he slipped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes , the darkness was oddly inviting, and the soft warmth of the sheets were almost pulling him in, giving him the vague, distant knowledge that getting up would be would be as hard as escaping quicksand, if he wanted to that is. "I knew you didn't want to go to the hospital, and Enzan doesn't wanna be here, it must be boring for you."

Lan shrugged, "It's ok I guess...it's just that what ever they keep giving me is making me really tired."

"..."

Lan shook his head, trying to recover some fading awareness, and looked up at Megaman, "Megaman?" He'd have dismissed the silence to Megaman sleepiness and figured he'd finally lost consciousness, had not he'd seen Megaman's eyes open, staring off at the ceiling as if it was a window to the vastness of space. He was still, almost frozen there, breathing slow and steady almost as a sleeping person would. "Mega...Megaman?" Lan reached out his hand and waved it before Megaman's eyes, and received no response.

A pang of worry shot through his entire system like a jolt of electricity, energizing his half lifeless form, he grabbed onto Megaman's shoulder and shook him, hard. "Megaman...Megaman..."

For a moment there was no response, each second building a tension inside of Lan... Until Megaman, as if nothing had happened at all, tilted his head towards Lan and looked at him with the same sleepy expression, "Huh?" He inquired, with the same low, slow, sleepy voice, his expression quickly changed into a puzzled one when he saw Lan's face. "What? What's wrong?"

"Don't...you know?" Lan asked, lost in a turmoil of bewilderment, awe, and fear. He could only stare, his mouth hung open, as if about to say something but he was too afraid. "You don't...remember?"

Megaman only shook his head, still hanging in a void of confusion. "Remember what?"

"You were..." Lan wanted to say it, but he paused, and eventually he decided against it. "...Nothing." He dropped his head onto Megaman's chest and slowly wrapped his arms around him. Why tell him, why make him worry over something he couldn't do anything about... "Just tired that's all."

"Hn." Megaman lifted his hand and slowly buried his fingers into the soft brown strands of Lan's hair, almost subconsciously stroking the back of his head with his thumb.

! - ! - !

_Zero..._

'Eh...' There was a roar of static blaring deafeningly in his ears, he could barely hear himself over it. It was almost hypnotic, it dulled him, he felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into a sea, this sound, this static. It was a weight, this lagging feeling growing as his consciousness receded farther and farther with the rest of himself It was making him really...really sleepy...

_Zero?_

What...what was that? There was something else, a voice. But...he was so tired, the desire to just keep sinking was almost inane, he felt he could, but...should he just ignore it? Should he really be going to sleep?...Hey...that voice...That was... "...?"

"Zero?"

The static cleared away as if he was opening his eyes and waking from sleep, only he wasn't opening his eyes since his eyes weren't closed. How strangely he must have looked... "Tadashi?" Zero lifted his head and found the man looking down at him with a studying inquisition, and knew already it was already to late...how long had he been out? How long had Tadashi been standing there? He felt like a spot light had been cast upon him and he was being stared at by the entire world, he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, trying his hardiest not to bush with shameful embarrassment. His first instinct was to make up some excuse for his non-responsiveness, but it would have been in vain, Tadashi already knew what was happening to him. Still, it would feel more bearable if he could try to evade it in some way, it was almost a natural habit to him now. "..."

"You ok?"

Zero shifted his eyes away, wanting to shrink away into the ground and out of sight. The concern was clear in Tadashi's voice, the sound of it stung with a guilty pain, a paranoid persecution, an deep shame. He felt guilty that Tadashi was wasting his time worrying about him, he felt open, venerable, as if he was on display for the entire world to see him as he saw himself. He admired Tadashi so much that the man's eyes could have just as easily been the entire world's, there was no way anyone else could make him feel worse. "Yeah." He half mumbled.

Tadashi slowly sank down into a chair with a heavy breath, pausing to pushing his glasses back into place. After letting Megaman go for the day he deciding to take a lunch break in his office, as seldom as he did so. "You were out for while." He said with morbid concern , his voice was almost as if he were just making an observation.

"..." Zero didn't respond, feeling throughly worse having Tadashi point that out to him, as if he'd done something horrible in front of the man. Tadashi was the last person he'd ever want to have something like this happen to him in front of, Blues was someone he could deal with, he didn't feel so bad if something like this happened in front of Megaman, and Lan didn't know either way. But Tadashi, he'd always had a different relationship with Tadashi, he didn't want him to see his faults.

Tadashi reached over and picked up a cup of coffee sitting on his desk, Zero watched it with an unknown interest, looking on curiously as Tadashi took a drink and sat it back down. "What happened Blues?" Tadashi asked. "Weren't you with him?"

"Yeah." Zero nodded. "He's with Enzan."

"Where's Enzan?"

"He said he was going back to fix his island or something like that." Zero told him.

"Hmm..." Tadashi paused to take another sip of coffee, slipping a finger in between his tie and collar gently loosening the fabric. Small taps clattered against his window from coming rain as they had been for the last few moments, Tadashi shifted in his seat toward the window and gazed outward. "Hmm...looks like it's gonna be bad." The sky darkened with gray clouds, clouding the sun like a creeping haze, and the horizon was thick with black clouds. "You didn't want to go with them?"

Zero seemed to be caught off guard by the question. "Well I..." He hadn't even thought about that, he didn't realize he had the option. Would he have gone? Did it matter? He could go any time he wanted. "I didn't even think of it." Zero said. "Doesn't matter I guess, since I can go anytime." Besides, Blues would probably hate him being around all the time.

Tadashi stared out the window almost as if a trans, listening to the tapping becoming harder and more rapid, watching drops of water splash against the glass and cascade down in a blurry sheet. "Makes sense." His voice became distant and distracted. "It's good you came when you did, I was just about to go looking for you."

"Really, why?" Zero watched Tadashi with his own admiring interest, remembering the look on Tadashi's face that sleepy morning when he opened the kitchen window and stuck his head out, that look when the sunlight fell on to his face and a warm breeze blew across his torso. He studied the look with the same interest, wondering what was it that changed in in such a way, what was it about the rain that made only him stare out in such a forlorn manner?

"I want to know if I can study you for a while." Tadashi told him. His eyes still fixed to the window, watching the gray clouds eclipse the sky until nothing could be seen but a glowing whiteness.

'Why is he so distracted?' Zero wondered, 'Is something wrong?' "Uh...are you alright?"

"?" Tadashi lifted his head and looked back at Zero, seeming to regain himself. "Oh, yes, I'm alright." He paused to take another sip of his coffee. "I was saying I wanted to study you for a while. I'm understanding more and more about what's causing Megaman's problems everyday, and I'm starting to think there's some kind of connection between what's happening to him and what's happening to you."

"Huh? R-Really?" Zero didn't know why, he couldn't describe it, but he was getting nervous. He felt like he was hearing something dangerous in this, something troubled. Didn't Tadashi feel it? Couldn't he feel the danger in what he was saying? "I...I..."

Tadashi glanced distractedly out the window where the rain could be heard clearly, tapping against the glass, pounding against every surface outside. It captivated him almost, something that drew his attention, he couldn't help but stop and stare. It took him a moment to realize he still hadn't gotten a response. "?" He shook his head, dispelling some cloud that had covered him. "Zero?"

"I...I...you can get along without me right? I mean, you probably don't really need me."

"Well, actually..." Tadashi's expression became perplexed again, "I do."

Zero dropped his head and looked away, he couldn't stand seeing that disappointed look in Tadashi's eyes. He hated it, he felt like he'd failed the man, as much as he wanted to just agree just to make Tadashi happy as he knew it would, he...couldn't. "..." He was sure of it now, he was afraid, he was afraid as a claustrophobic person about to go into a closet would be afraid. He couldn't help but find it interesting that he'd talked about this very subject with Blues. "...Sorry I..." He spoke like a child who'd done something wrong and knew he'd be serious reprimanded, deeply shy and reluctantly.

"What's wrong?" Tadashi asked, he laid his folded arms on the desk and rested his head atop them, slumping in a manner that reminded Zero of Lan, something he didn't usually see in the man and had to take notice of the lax movements Tadashi rarely made. Tadashi always stood up strait, he always spoke in a certain way, he aways carried a certain demeanor about himself, Zero wouldn't have been surprised if he was one of the only few if any people that had seen Tadashi this way.

"I just...I can't." Zero shirked away timidly, once again feeling the horrible shame that plagued his existence like a disease, why not, he was like a disease, or close enough anyway. That's why he couldn't do it, he wanted to help Tadashi, he wanted to help more then anything, but this fear, it was worse then the shame. He closed his eyes, it was easier if he couldn't see Tadashi looking at him, but it didn't stop him from feeling his eyes on him. "I'd just screw everything else up for you."

"You wouldn't really have to do anything Zero." Tadashi replied, his intent drifting away from convincing Zero to help him, to trying to decipher why he said no, why his demeanor had changed in such away. He made no attempt to hide the concern in his voice or on his face, knowing it would only make Zero feel worse, but he still couldn't help it, he didn't have much experience in hiding such things.

"I'd mess everything up for you...who knows what I'd do" Zero's voice trailed off, wanting to hide away more then ever, desperately wanting Tadashi to leave this alone, to accept it, to realize what he'd always known. He felt Tadashi's eyes bearing down on him more then ever, he want to look away, but he remembered his eyes were already closed. He wanted to get away, so this burning shame swelling inside of him wouldn't have been so strong, this persecuted feeling wouldn't have been as unbearable...The rain, that sound, it was like the dulling static that surrounded his entire being when he faded out of awareness...maybe that was why Tadashi was so enticed with it.

"Zero..." Tadashi sighed, listening to the rain filled silence that developed between them. He wasn't sure why he hesitated, why he paused and adjusted his glasses, then subsequently took another sip of his now cooled coffee. He could see it in Zero's form, this only made the half-navi more uncomfortable. "What are you so afraid of?" He immediately felt as though his IQ had lowered a few points for asking such a thing, he knew Zero well enough, what wasn't he afraid of?

Zero didn't think it was possible, but it was actually getting worse, he was actually feeling more shame. Was Tadashi actually going to make it worse for him, was he going to make him say it? It made him flush with anger and embarrassment, he was! He as going to make him... "I'm gonna..." Zero swallowed, hard, his anger flaring up even more, enough to make him shout with frustration. Damnit! Why couldn't he just leave it alone? "I'm gonna infect everything! Ok!" Immediately after he shouted those words he felt the anger recede and and odd regret come about.

"Zero, you..." Tadashi paused for a different reason, he tried to speak but something forced him to stop, something different from last time. His lips twinged and his eyes illuminated with unknown properties, and unexpectedly he began to laugh.

And Zero could only stare at him in confused and amazement, he was...Laughing? "Tadashi...?" He didn't know what to make of it, no one had ever laughed, and he never expected Tadashi. What?

Tadashi waved his hand concealingly. "I'm sorry." He apologized jovially, still fighting back a bit of laughter. "It's just that your the only Navi I've ever seen who had a complex." And inferiority complex to be exact.

"..." Zero still couldn't stop staring at him, that look, that smile, that laugh, it made him feel better, even though it might have come at his expense. "I wanna help you...but I can't."

"Zero, You haven't infected anything without trying yet-"

"That's not true!" Zero immediately interjected, abruptly. "Megaman- "

"That wasn't you." Tadashi objected, his voice completely serious.

"It was me...or at lest..." Zero pried his eyes away from Tadashi and stared down at himself, "...it was a part of me, it is a part of me, a big part of me."

" But Zero-"

Zero shook his head, quickly stopping Tadashi before he could make any excuses for him."It's gonna come back!" Zero shouted forcefully, Tadashi didn't understand, the man shouldn't have been defending him! Didn't he realize what he was? Didn't he realize that there was something wrong with him! "I know it is!"

"It's not Zero, it's not even you." Tadashi told him, trying to convince him with to no avail. Zero didn't seem to believe it, he didn't believe anything he was saying. It was like he was trying to convince everyone, even trying to remind himself. "Nothing's going to come back because there's nothing there but you."

"Your wrong..." Zero shook his head, his voice fearful. It became completely a parent now that he was afraid of himself. "What do you think is wrong with me! I feel it! Every minute I feel it! It's like a war going on inside of me that's tearing me apart, and I'm losing! Both sides of me wants to kill the other, I hate it, I hate..." His voice abruptly cut off, as if his throat was being choked, when he was finally able to speak again his voice was softer, he looked away again. "I keep...fading out or something, All I can see is static and I feel really light...and I keep moving up, like somethings pushing me out. I've never slept but it's the only time when I feel sleepy." He forced himself to lift his head and look up at Tadashi again, his eyes timid and depressed, his voice also. "I can't...I know I'm just gonna infect everything...I already messed up Megaman, it'll be better if you just...just-"

"No. Don't even say it." Tadashi shook his head adamantly, staring back at Zero with firm, sure, almost hard eyes, it was almost startling to see a man who was always calm and reserved like this.."I'm going to help you _and_ Megaman, I promise, but I _can't_ do that if you don't help me." Tadashi spoke empathetically, his eyes softening. "I trust you Zero, if there is something trying to hurt you I know you can beat it, your strong enough. Your not going to infect anything."

"What if I do?" The question

Tadashi protested a bit stubbornly, as a rational man he knew that was something he should have been thinking about but... "You wont." Denial in an attempt at reassuring.

"But if I do?" A sharp return to the question.

Tadashi sighed, Zero was fixated on this...Tadashi smiled at him warmly. "I don't understand why you hate yourself so much, your an amazing person, your so concerned about everything." Sudden realization and statement of admirable features in the other.

Zero rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a warmth from those words, he just couldn't comprehend how Tadashi still could stand him? How could he still...a person who'd spent so much of his life fighting virus, it's was uncomprehendable to him how they all could stand him when _he_ couldn't stand himself. The Navi side of him seemed to inanely hate the virus side of him, and the virus wanted nothing more then to mindlessly destroy the Navi side. The only constant, stable, completely agreed upon thing inside of him was death. "Tadashi...I want you to promise me that...when something happens you'll delete me." The answer a serious plea.

"Don't you mean if?" Hopeful questioning.

Zero glared up at him."Tadashi." Frustrated anger.

"..." Tadashi could only look back at him, uncertainty in his eyes, he hated this. "No." Defiance, refusing the posed answer.

"Tadashi!" Stronger frustration, hoping for him to understand

"No, I won't do it." Stronger defiance

"You don't understand, if I started infecting everything, there's gonna be nothing left of me anyway!" Zero protested. A fear and rejection of something uncertain for something that was.

"I won't." Tadashi protested just as strongly. Struggling to hold on to a startlingly fading friend.

"Tadashi-"

Tadashi shook his head decisively"Just because you've given up on yourself, doesn't mean I'm going to give up on you." Stubborn coveting of hope.

"I'm not going to do it if you don't promise me!" Zero shouted, his voice desperate. A climax and an ultimatum. "I won't!" Rejection of hope for fear of failure.

"I'm not going to let it happen!" Tadashi shouted back, finally breaking. "I'm not going to let you just die off!" A decisive, unmoving stance, still holding on to hope

"Don't you know what's going to happen if I start infecting the Internet? Can you stop it? It's just better off if I die!" Finally stating an ever present, ominous, self-loathing thought. "You know that!" A bold, sacrificial statement of fear.

Tadashi's eyes slowly drifted back to the window, watching the rain pour down , listening."Do you want to die that badly? Are you really that anxious to just leave behind Blues and Enzan and Lan and Megaman? Do you really want to just leave us all behind? Has it been that bad for you?" An unintentional accusation of treason.

"No, no, I love you guys." Zero denied reverently, He felt like he could have cried. A quick recant for fear of treason. "That's one of the reason's why I'm doing this! I nearly killed Megaman already, I don't want to do the same to Blues..." A timid revelation of a guarded fact.

"I've never met anyone like you." Tadashi slowly leaned back into his chair, tilting his head back and staring up at the ceiling. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise you that." A final decision.

"..." Silence.

"If not for your self, for me...let me help you." A plea.

The rain picked up outside, it was audible all around now. It dulled and perked at the same time, it engulfed the senses.

Zero slowly lifted his eyes and stared at Tadashi with a profound confusion. "..." Silent acceptance.

Tadashi slumped back in his seat, letting out a tense breath and trying to relax again. "Thank you." Relief..

Zero was sure he was gawking now, his mouth was hanging open and he had to conscious close it. Tadashi was helping him and he had the nerve to say something like that. He rubbed the back of his neck and stood silently for a moment, unsure of himself again. "Tadashi..." Gratefulness..


	21. Chapter 20: Trust me

Chapter 20: Trust me

! - ! - !

Trust me by The fray

! - ! - !

_...The rain's gonna let up today, these bright areas of green are showing lighter precipitation that is going to come down from the north east before sunrise. But that's not the end of it, there's another low pressure front coming off the ocean and that means cold air and another big temperature drop by tomorrow. Also, another big, slow moving storm front his coming off the ocean, that means heavy rain, and strong winds, a high wind advisory has been issued through out the entire area. We might end up with a severe thunderstorm watch from this squall, that has yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure is that the weather will be like this through out the rest of the week. Today's temperature will be in the high 40's and low..._

Enzan reached his hand out and grabbed a hold of a pole, leaning his shoulder against the slick surface for support. "Great, just what I need." He mumbled bitterly, feeling the chill of the heavy rain soaking his skin and swallowing his senses in the cold wetness. He stood on the edge of helipad resting at the east end of the almost infamous island, he could still hear the distorted roar of the helicopter that carried him here in a phantom, residual echo. His heart pounded against his chest, racing so strongly that he felt an odd yet strong discomfort, he took in deep, gasping breaths in an attempt to quench it.

"I told you you shouldn't have left the hospital." Blues spoke in an I-told-you-so-manner of voice. The P.E.T rested on Enzan's waist, safely out of the water's reach. It was 7 in the morning, but the black clouds shrouding the sky over head made it seem more like midnight. Soft currents of morning wind became a ragging torrent, whipping the rain into Enzan's face and a burst of skin chilling cold air with it. The boy lift his arm to his forehead to shield his face.

Enzan rolled his eyes, concern was so annoying, especially hostile concern, but the worst thing had to be that he might even be right. He knew that the fear of a serious diagnosis, of the claustrophobic, panicked, anxious feelings that had over whelmed him before had taken hold of him when he decided to leave. But he knew it in a way that kept it from coming to the forefront his mind in the form of a sharp, distinct, conscious idea. His confused emotions had made him feel instinctively that it would be better to grudgingly leave than to face another anxiety attack, or to rot away in a bed one day and wake up to find that he could no longer walk at all. He was running really, he was nervous and afraid for the first time in his life, and having little experience with these things he didn't know how to deal with it in any other way but to retreat. But he kept that knowledge of his fear thrust firmly down in him. his courage to live depended upon how successfully his fears was hidden from his consciousness. "I'm fine. Trust me."

- ! -

_Looking for something I've never seen _

_Alone and I'm in between_

- ! -

"The hell you are." Blues snorted, disgruntledly offering his concern under his anger. "This could quite possibly be the stupidest thing you've ever done."

Enzan smirked in amusement, finding a bit of humor in the navi's resentful form of worry, and his bluntness. He felt his heart slow and his breathing return to normal, with one last sharp inhale of the wet air he wiped away the stream of water sliding down his face from his soaked hair "Aw quit your griping, I'm fine." Enzan pushed off of the poll and walked over to the steel door barring entrance to the facility, immediately the sound of rain dulled into a hard and repeated but muffled pounding and he was met with the noise of construction, as he should have. "Don't worry Blues, I gave Zero directions." He replied, gaining a reserved satisfaction when he heard the prideful anger rise in Blue's voice.

Blues swallowed his explosive anger and recanted callously. "Shut up."

Enzan pressed his hand against the white wall and leaned against it, it didn't provide much support but it helped him regain his balance. "Un..." He winced when he felt the familiar pain slowly starting to return, but it was minimal and he became accustomed to it. He knew he could at lest be able to make it down to the control room before he lacked the strength to go any farther. "Hey Blues."

"What?"

"With all the systems down it might be hard, but see if you can get in contact with the Lab, tell them to send a sample of the containment fluid to the hospital."

! - ! - !

"You worry too much." Tadashi said, "Just relax.."

The rays of sun that rose with every morning were absent today, blocked with thick gray clouds, rolling thunder and flashing streaks of lighting. Tadashi could hear it clearly, the sound of rain traversed through the entire house, it drifted in to the room from all sides, like soft music. More often then not he found his eyes drifting toward the kitchen window and out into the storm with an odd fascination for it.

Zero looked away with a resentful timidness, feeling as though he was being thrust out into the open with no clothes on. "Easy for you to say."

-!-

_The place that I'm from and the place that I'm in _

_A city I never been_

-!-

"Come on, everything went fine, you were great."

Tadashi sat at the kitchen table, the clean, white dress shirt he'd warn the day before sat open over his body and revealing his chest, much more wrinkled then it had been when he first dawned it. His lower body was furnished with a pair of white boxers and nothing more. The sight made Zero relax a little, his feeling of open, defenseless nakedness of having Tadashi know certain things about him made him reluctant, but once again he was in the presence of a side of Tadashi that was just as open as he was. A side of Tadashi that was groggy with sleepy expression on his face, a side that was uncharacteristically disorganized and with a fleeting memory, a side of him that was too short to reach the top shelf, a side of him that liked the feel of sunlight and wind in the morning. A side of him that had let him know one of his closest and worst memories, a side of him that was sitting here half naked. A side of him that couldn't remember where he'd put the coffee, a side of him that had a friendly smile. "..." Zero let out a deep sigh and looked up at Tadashi, studying his smiling face, his bright, sharp eyes. Maybe...he was right.

Tadashi leaned back in his chair, his mouth open wide as he stretched his arms high above his head and yawned deeply, pushing small tears to the edges his eyes. "What's with the serious look?" He asked, his voice still a bit groggy and low from fatigue, he felt as though everything weighed more then it did the day before and his mind was surrounded by a fog that obscured thoughts.

"Nothing." Zero shook his head, "Just thinking.."

- ! -

_I found a friend or should I say a foe _

_Said there's a few things you should know_

- ! -

"I never thought I'd say this, but you think to much." Tadashi smiled in his own private amusement, at himself more the Zero. "If there's anything I've learned it's that some times you have to throw caution to the wind if you want to get anywhere. So don't worry so much."

"I guess...maybe." Zero shrugged, though a part of him still didn't believe it, and he doubted it ever would. Maybe with other people, other elements, but not with someone like him. This was simply to dangerous, honestly there was no point in this, he should just be deleted so the virus could be eradicated forever, especially since there was no way to stop it. "I hope you at lest found something out that you can use against me."

"Zero-"

Zero promptly cut him off with a stubbornness. "Come on, your a smart guy, it's only logical." Zero reasoned, his voice completely strait, even holding a level headed tone as he tried to convince Tadashi of this. He didn't flinch, he didn't hesitate in the slightest when he spoke about it. Over the course of yesterday and last night he'd settled into the thought of his death, and what once was a turmoiled roar from two parties inside of his head was now a calm decision. The rage and sorrow, the fear even that had surrounded his need to die was gone, and he wished that if it happened, it happened while this state of mind lasted. "In case something happens then you can stop me."

Tadashi was astounded by how easily he spoke about this, shocked by how calmly Zero wanted it, he shook his head. "Zero stop doing that, your not that mindless virus, your not something to just be deleted. So stop talking like you are."

- ! -

_We don't want you to see we come and we go _

_Here today, gone tomorrow_

- ! -

"I am that virus, in fact...I'm beginning to think that virus is me." Zero said thoughtfully, he felt detached from himself, an entity slowly being preyed away from something it had latched on to. No...wasn't exactly a calmness, it was true that there was an odd peace he felt about himself, but was more as if the parts of his personality that caused the anger and sorrow and fear associated with his death hadn't completely been satisfied by reason. It appeared more like bits of those part of himself were now absent, more and more every day he was beginning to realize an emptiness in himself, as if he was a shell being cleared out and torn away from his inwards. But he didn't completely know it yet, it was still underlaying and subconscious, it had not yet come to him in a clear-cut, distinct, intelligible idea, only vague feelings. "Now's probably the only time to do this." Of course, this kind of courage to say such things was only forth coming in Zero because of the trust, the confidence Tadashi made him feel.

Tadashi let out a deep sigh, his expression slipped into one of sorrowful disappointment. Zero could see the need to convince him, to save him in his eyes. "No Zero, No way. You have to stop thinking like this. If you don't, there's no way we can succeed in this." He said. "I don't understand it, why are you so ready to die? Your an amazing person, if anyone deserves to live it's you, I don't get why you can't see that yourself."

Zero shifted his eyes away, his demeanor quickly slipping back into the introverted shame when it came to the subject of his existence, the cruel joke it was. The same peacefulness and levelheadedness that he'd had speaking of his death didn't apply to him in the subject of his life. "...Just look at me." He half mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

- ! -

_We're only taking turns _

_Holding this world_

- ! -

Zero couldn't stand the way Tadashi was looking at him, that questioning expression made him feel as if he'd see deep enough into him and turn a way in disgust. As he should have, Zero thought, but the fact that it was taking so long made him frustrated and impatient, why didn't he just do it and get it over with! The way that expression ceased to falter almost gave a dim hope, to the side of him that wanted it, that Tadashi wouldn't, but everything else inside of him hated himself for clinging to something in the face of such doubt. The suspense made nervous knots in his stomach. It was a common experience for Zero, these thoughts, these feelings. "Really look at me." He spoke timidly with embarrassment.

"Zero?" Tadashi still didn't quite understand.

"Tadashi." Zero folded his arms and looked away with an annoyed huff, a flush making it's way to his cheeks, and he stood idle in a state of burning ignominy. He hated explaining things like this, he hated illustrating his own faults, he hated outlining the horrors of himself and his existence. "I all most killed Megaman!" He scuffed bitterly, he felt as if someone was forcing him to cut off his own arm by saying all of his outside. Maybe it was a sign, that the part of him that cared about what Tadashi thought of him, that didn't want to accidentally infect everything, that was sad and afraid, that enjoyed messing with Blues, that felt ashamed of everything it was, the side of him that was everything he was. The Navi side of him, at lest he thought that was what it was, was still strong inside of him "That's the only reason I'm here! And look what it did to him, even now..." Guilt was a horrible thing. "I'm the reason Enzan and Lan got hurt, I'm the reason Enzan's building is half in the ocean! I'm the reason who knows what else happened!"

"Is that what this is about?" Tadashi asked. "Zero, you have to stop beating yourself up over this. That wasn't you, no matter what you say or think about it, it never will have been you."

"How can you say that!" He shouted with aggravation. "I'm just that thing with a face! And at this rate I'm gonna be that thing again!"

"You won't." Tadashi recanted, he spoke softly, he remained calm, the levelheaded, friendly, articulate expression Zero admired, as sleepy as it may have been, still remained. "I won't let you." He was especially firm.

- ! -

_It's how it's always been _

_When you're older you will understand_

- ! -

"But you can do something right?" Zero asked, "You've found away didn't you?"

Was Zero even listening to him? All he was concerned about was this one thing. "No Zero, I didn't, And I'm not looking." Tadashi protested almost stubbornly, he had to make Zero see some how, he had to some how give him a will to live.

"No way Tadashi! You promised me that you would, that's the only reason I agreed to do this thing!" Zero shouted, an anger roaring up inside of him. Why couldn't he see this! Why couldn't he understand what he was, why he was asking for all of this! Why did he refuse to pay attention this fact! Why did me make them focus on this so brutally.

"It may seem like I'm being foolish but I won't, I'm not going to be so quick to give up on you." Tadashi folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, his eyes firm and fixed on to Zero's. "I'm doing this to save you, not find away to kill you. I can't possibly do something like that Zero, because that would be going against everything I started this for."

Immediately a silence followed, a long one, filled with the ambient noises of rain and thunder rumbling over head with a velvet fluidity to it's ominous sounds.

"Ta...Tadashi..." Zero just stared at him in awe, for a moment he was speechless, his mind searching desperately for a response to something like that. What could he say, it was Tadashi, he was his friend, and he thanked him profoundly for that. But... "...Your my friend right?" He asked quietly, speaking almost as if he feared Tadashi would say no.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Then why can't you understand that I need to do this for you guys?" Zero pleaded, his eyes were shaky, it was clear he was forcing himself to keep his gaze with Tadashi. The shame he felt was unbearable, a catalysts triggering feelings that changed like the wind with each word, each glance Tadashi gave him. "I'm just going to cause problems for you guys, for the world. Seriously, I'm not just saying this. I could just infect everything."

- ! -

_If I say who I know it just goes to show _

_You need me less than I need you_

- ! -

"Zero, I believe in you, I know your strong enough not to let that happen." Tadashi told him. "And that's something we're going to fix."

"I don't get it..." Zero looked away fully this time, his head hung low, "I'm a virus, you guys destroy viruses. How can you stand to be around me?"

"I don't like you or not because of _what_ you are, I like you because of who you are." Tadashi started, "And your a great person, I've never met anyone like you. I don't really care what you are. If the virus part of you is causing the problem, then lets find away to deal with that, not just kill you off at the first sign of trouble."

Tadashi was most definitely a more reasonable man then Zero sometime thought of him, even in the morning. "..." Zero again could find no response, and after a moment of trying futilely, he looked away in silent acceptance, hoping Tadashi would approve and leave him alone about it.

Tadashi relaxed again, another deep yawn forced it's way out of his mouth and he slumped in his chair with fatigue. "Your lucky you don't sleep." He said, mid yawn. "It's just a pain."

"Maybe." Zero shrugged.

Tadashi rested his folded arms on the table and sat his head on top of them, looking at Zero lazily. He could see he was pensive, still feeling the feelings that had drove his words as well as the shame. " So Blues is gone is he?"

"Yeah." Zero nodded, and his demeanor only got worse when the subject was brought up.

"Why don't you go and see him?"

"Huh?" Zero was caught off guard by the question. "Really? But don't you wanna-"

- ! -

_Take it from me we don't give sympathy _

_You can trust me trust nobody_

- ! -

"It can wait at lest a little while." Tadashi smiled. "Besides,.what's work if you can't take a break every once and awhile."

Zero felt a small smile coming to his lips as well. "What are you gonna do without me?"

"Heh, I'm sure I'll manage."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"It's raining again..." Lan let out a deep sigh, his breath patched the window with a wet fog. He sat on his knees, his arms folded on the windowsill and his head resting on top of his arms, still sitting only in his shorts. He could feel the cold chill from the glass radiating on to his his face and chest, his body heat being drawn out. The rain pelted the glass and ran down the top in a blurry sheet, small waves like ripples coming through visibly, reminding him of so many car washes he'd gone through. The dim light that shined through cast a blue aura over the room, the cascading, distorted shadow of the sheeting water projected a blurry image. "Pretty hard to..."

What was... that? "Un?" Megaman sat upright, bringing himself the edge of the bed, leaning forward with his hands clasped together and elbows resting on his knees. His shirt was discarded near by, his hair damp with sweat and hanging down flatly without volume. He was hot, and not surprisingly his cooling system wasn't functioning properly, so his body automatically resorted to the more manual resolution of sweat. It was still early, by Lan's standards anyway, only 8 or so, and still as dark as ever. "What are you doing up so early?" Megaman winced, there was a tightness as taunt as a stretched wire in his stiff body that felt as if everything was attempting to lock into place despite his will. He tried to be still, allow it to run it's course and disburse on it's own, but he'd already made the mistake of fighting it in order to sit up. "oooo..." He moaned softly to himself and clinched his forehead, he felt weak for a moment, dizzy, as if the entire room was tilting and twisting like a bottle in the middle of a stormy sea. Which also made him nauseous.

Lan looked back over his shoulder and immediately noticed the cringed expression on Megaman's face, a pang of worry shot through him like a single, pounding heart beat. "Megaman?" Lan climbed off of his knees and with bare feet he ran over to the bed with quiet steps over the cold tile floors. He sat beside him, wrapping his arms around Megaman's shoulders. "Are you ok?"

- ! -

_But I said you and me we don't have honesty _

_The things we don't want to speak_

- ! -

"Yeah..." Megaman nodded slowly, his eyes clinched tightly and his fingers looking as though they'd dig into his scull any moment now. "I'm ok." Nothing he wasn't used too. "I just..." He felt disoriented, his balance was gone, the world was suddenly weightless, there was no center of gravity, as if he was an object drifting through space. The world was twisting and spinning, distorted and blurred, the only thing that he could see clearly was the ground hurling at his face, and the moment he realized it he felt it, fast and hard.

"Megaman!" Lan slid off the bed and dropped to his knees in front of Megaman who was laying face down on the ground, completely still. He quickly grabbed on to his shoulders and rolled him awkwardly onto his back, Megaman was heavier then he'd thought. "Megaman, what happened?"

Megaman blinked, staring upward questioningly at the ceiling, completely unaware of what happened until he found himself on the ground. The projection of blue light from the window became sharper and sharper, the weakness began to seep away, and paralyzing lock up of his body loosened. But he still felt dizzy and nauseous. "I'm alright, just got up too fast. That's all." Megaman said in that same friendly, disregarding voice, as if he thought nothing of what had just happened to him.

Lan wasn't sure if he was right in feeling angry about it, he'd hated it when Enzan did it, and he did no less when Megaman did, though, for all he knew Megaman might not have thought of it with the same seriousness as every one else. "Megaman..." Lan looked down at Megaman with a disappointed expression, but again he said nothing about it, unsure of what to think of it all. "Your not alright, stop saying that."

"Lan?" Megaman looked up at the boy with confusion, for a moment he didn't know what had brought this on, why Lan was so disgruntled? He quickly figured it out.

Megaman smiled softly, slowly lifting his hand toward the dizzy image of Lan and hoping that he reached his mark, much to his satisfaction he felt his fingers fall against Lan's cheek. "Really, it's alright, don't worry about it so much. I'm bound to have a few glitches." The watery reflection of blue draped over Lan's body like a veil, shading his pale skin in the curtain of shade and aqua, everything was much darker from down here, blackness covered the floor like a fog and dwelled in the corners. "Besides, there's nothing either one of us can do about it."

It amazed him how calm Megaman could be about himself, he'd never met someone with so much patience, so much calmness. For all Lan knew Megaman was dying inside, but Megaman didn't seem to be concerned in the least, it was improvable to him. "How come you don't care? I mean, you almost were deleted once, and at this rate who knows what will happen to you. It's like you don't at all..."

Megaman stared up at him blankly. "What do you mean Lan? Of course I _care_.".Megaman replied, though his answer was completely instinctual, and with out thought. But why would he have to think about such a thing, of course people were concerned about themselves, about their lives, all people were. So by rule of thumbs he was also, it required no thought at all, in fact he hadn't thought about it at all since he acquired this body. But why should he need too? He didn't need to remind himself of his concern for his wellbeing, what would that have accomplished. It was merely logic, something that had been embedded in his consciousness like so many other things, that was the reason.

- ! -

_I'll try to get out but I never will _

_Traffic is perfectly still_

- ! -

"Really?" Lan stared down at him remorsefully. "Tell me honestly, and I really want you to think about it..._do_ you care?"

Megaman looked up into the sullen brown eyes, the blankness in his own eyes became unsure. "I..." Of course he...Of course he did, Megaman reasoned, it was logic, that was the reason he wasn't worried, or had one discerning though of his wellbeing...He paused, and began to think of everything, every glitch he'd had, every worsening flaw, and even now when he thought about it and attempted to wrench the feeling from himself, but he couldn't feel a concerned... "I...think I do...I mean, I thought I did... But...I don't feel like I do." Megaman became perplexed, still digging through his consciousness with a faint hope that it was buried somewhere under his thoughts, that it wasn't completely absent. "No...I...ever since I got in this body I never worried about it...it feels kinda numb..."

'Megaman...' Lan didn't know exactly what to say, he'd been looking for something, but now that he'd found it he wasn't sure of what to do with it. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying relieve some of the tension."..." Lan slowly eased himself down on to the ground and laid beside Megaman, stretching out fully. It was cold and hard but he didn't care, he felt morbidly drawn to Megaman, like a person who wanted to spend time with a loved one when death was near. Lan stared upward and quickly became captivated by the cascading water projecting in a blue light from the window. He couldn't help thinking about Zero though, but he wasn't completely sure why he'd felt a nagging urge. "It's raining again." He changed the subject.

Megaman didn't respond immediately, his eyes still fixed the ceiling without seeing, wrapped in thought. "What are you doing up so early?" He finally asked, after a duration long enough to make Lan wonder if he would ever say anything.

- ! -

_We're only taking turns _

_Holding this world_

- ! -

Lan sighed, cuffing his hands on top of his stomach, the pounding of rain against the side of the hospital echoed so loudly that it sounded like it was coming from all over. It was soothing, numbing in a way, it loosened his consciousness and washed away the tension like caked on mud being rinsed from a stone. "I started feeling really funny a few hours ago, like last time. I couldn't get back to sleep."

Megaman glanced over at him, his eyes silently confirming what he'd already know Lan's words to have meant. "More blood? Why didn't you wake me up?"

Lan subconsciously felt his throat tighten up at the feeling of thick liquid being forced up his esophagus suffocatingly "I didn't need to." Lan said. More accurately, he didn't want to, not because he was some how embarrassed, or ashamed. He was worried about Megaman, he seemed to be deteriorating, and Lan wasn't sure if there was anything could do about it but he knew rest wouldn't hurt. It may have even helped, it did well enough for humans. And, as he'd just witnessed, Megaman never had good experiences waking up, not once, every time some flaw presented itself at random. He didn't want to wake Megaman up. "I'm alright." He had to remember to finish cleaning the blood out of the sink, he was so disoriented this morning that he could barely walk a strait line let alone preform an action that required detailed motor skills.

"Did you tell any one?" Megaman wasn't certain of what he felt about himself himself, but he was sure of his concern for Lan. "Are you alright?"

"Nah, I didn't feel like it. Don't worry, I'm just waiting until they make rounds, I'm sure nothing's gonna change in 2 hours." Lan waved his hand discardingly. "My head still hurts a little, but it'll be fine." His head felt like it was being pounded repeatedly with a hammer in time with his pulse, the sound of his blood rushing past his ears felt like a deafening waterfall. Much to his surprise the constant tapping of heavy rain and low thunder didn't make it worse.

"..." Megaman nodded and looked back up at the ceiling. A slow, knotting feeling formed in his stomach, his mind completely focused on Lan now. Everything seemed fine, vaguely normal more or less despite everything, but Megaman still felt a obscure dread when he thought about Lan. "I'm sure you will be..." The room finally stopped spinning before his eyes and the nauseous feelings faded, he could see the watery projection of blue light clearly on the walls and the shrouded darkness hanging low in the corners and over the floor.

Lan shuttered when he felt a chill sweep across the ground and over his bare skin, almost immediately he rolled over on to his stomach and pushed himself up on to his feet. He paused to readjust the waist band of his shorts be for he walked over to the window and sat down on his knees again. His breath washed against the glass and a fogged spot appeared, quickly disappearing like melting ice. "You know my Dad came by today."

"Today?" Megaman slipped his arms behind him and propped himself up on to his elbows, glancing back. "Why didn't you wake me up for that?"

"I dunno." Meaning he didn't have the words or the knowledge to use them to explain the reasons behind his actions. If he tried to use any response other then a vague discarding one then he'd have to explain the anxious feelings of worry he'd had for Megaman but never had been able to explain, the ones that he'd given up and changed the subject on so many times he'd lost count. He was incapable of responding in any other way then a discarding, dismissive response

"What'd he say?"

"Usual parent stuff, he's worried and everything. " Lan rolled his eyes. "He also said he was going to work with Zero for a while, he might be able to figure out what's wrong with both of you. He's been working a lot, he must be really close."

"Hn..." Megaman nodded, slowly sitting fully upright, he was reluctant to rise, finding it cooler in the shadows then standing full body height. But eventually got up, his bare feet trudging through the cooler air to the window where Lan sat. He slipped his hands into his pockets and stared at the hazy sheet of water washing across, captivated by the blurry lights of the city shining through.

- ! -

_It's how it's always been _

_When you're older you will understand_

- ! -

"Your gonna be alright, right Megaman?" Lan didn't look back, his eyes remained fixed strait a head, his voice hopeful, almost pleading. He offered up every worry he never spoke, every uncertainty about Megaman, every painful thought that he was sure he'd have if something did happen to Megaman, his way of saying everything he wanted to say but never could without speaking at all.

"As long as you are Lan." Megaman said, absently accepting it.

A comfortable silence spread between them, Lan sat and watched like a captivated and contented child. Megaman merely stood absently and watched him with the same awe he'd always had since he'd come into the tangible world. He couldn't stop himself from slowly reaching out and burring his fingers in to Lan's hair, there was still this disbelief and awe inside of him that made him want to touch things that were now tangible to him like a curious 3 year old, Lan in particular.

"For the first time I think I actually wish I was out there." Lan rested his elbows on the window still and held his head in his hands. This place didn't feel nearly as warm or copasetic as his room, it didn't have the pleasant familiarity as his home did, it felt lifeless, impersonal. Most of the time at lest, right now, even though the room was dark, even though the rain was all that could be heard, even though it was a large building, it felt like it was only them, even with everything. Lan felt the same tender, satisfying atmosphere he felt at home. Though, there was just something about the rain... He stood up restlessly again, a building energy retaining itself inside of him. "You look like you went out there yourself." His eyes clearly held their focus on his hair.

Megaman rubbed the back of his neck and grinned, the unruly spikiness had been damped into hair that drooped uncharacteristically. "Just a little hot I guess."

A quick and fleeting realization struck Lan as he watched Megaman's motions. 'He and Zero do the same thing.' A habit he'd seen Zero display a thousand times. 'Now I know where he gets it from.' Lan reached up to the taller form and wrapped his arms around Megaman's neck, pulling him down into a soft kiss. When he felt his chest pressing against Megaman's more imposing one, with the barest traces of sweat beginning to develop on his warm skin, and Megaman's hands press against his back with a delicate touch, almost as if he feared he'd do harm. The retentive energy that had been building exulted itself in a very pubescent way when a hardness developed between his legs. But he ignored it, clinching on to Megaman tightly as if he'd fall away if he let go, deepening the kiss as if it might be the last time he ever would be able to.

Megaman was drawn in by the quick change in demeanor, like a switch coming on a revelation of something that had always been there revealed itself to him. He was sure of it now, Lan had been too busy thinking, worrying in almost compulsive ruminations to get back to sleep. He could just imagine Lan pacing around the room shiftlessly in the dark, filled with unrelenting nervousness, watching him sleep. He kissed him back just as intensely, his embrace growing firmer with a comforting strength. Megaman finally pulled back, softly tilting his head to the side and kissing gently along Lan's neck. "It's ok." He said, his voice barely above a whisper in Lan's ear.

Lan stood idle, letting his hands fall to his side and his eyes stare over Megaman's shoulder to the projection on the wall while his body lost itself in Megaman's administrations. "It's not..." he recanted just as softly. "It's...It's like your-"

"You don't have to worry about me." Megaman cooed, at the same time trying to convince himself that he didn't have to worry about Lan. His words wouldn't have sounded real had he not reciprocated the same on to himself so that Lan could see it. Megaman kissed gently along Lan's jaw, trying to comfort him, trying to ease him out of his ominous fear. "We've been through worse, this will work out."

"Your not gonna leave me are you?" Lan sounded more like a child then he'd have liked, but he didn't care, he was too afraid to care. A separation anxiety came over him already, even as Megaman stood before him more solid and real then he could have ever hoped. Lan lifted his hands and wrapped his arms around Megaman, squeezing him as tightly as he could. He didn't want to lose him, not in any sense...and he knew at that moment, that Megaman was who he wanted, needed.

- ! -

_And then again maybe you don't_

- ! -

"No, I'll be fine, I'll always be right here.." Megaman slowly trailed up Lan's chin and recaptured his lips in another kiss, their tongues struggling fiercely with a hunger, a deep need, joint for an eternity until Lan pulled away breathlessly, panting heavily. "Don't worry ..." Megaman whispered, slowly running his tongue under Lan's chin and across his neck to his collar bone in a warm, wet trail.

"Mega..." Lan said softly, breathing hard and heavy, letting his body lean against Megaman's shoulder weakly. He was slowly eased back by Megaman's strong arms until his back was against the wall beside the window. The pounding of rain almost swallowed his senses, leaving only the soothing beat, and the feeling of Megaman pressed against him, kissing and licking with delicate gentleness that silently pleaded for Lan to believe everything would be alright.

"Just..." Megaman slowly dropped to his knees, his hands roaming over Lan's stomach and feeling the heat swelling with a radiating warmth. "...Trust me." He whispered, his voice blending seamlessly into the hiss of the rain. He pressed his mouth against Lan's chest and prodded tentatively at the soft nipple with his tongue.

"Un..." The sensation was a muffled, it almost tickled, beginning dull but gaining sensitivity. Lan grabbed on to Megaman's shoulders, feeling the dampness of sweat and warmth across his back under his finger tips. "I don't want something to happen to you..." Lan admitted, his voice nearly fading into the wail of the wind and rain. His eyes cracked open and became half-lidded, sullen brown eyes stared at the wavering blue light and the reflection of sliding water.

"Lan..." Megaman's motions became softer, more delicate pleading for understanding more then his words ever could alone. He wrapped his arms around Lan's waist, tilting his head upward until his imploring, careful eyes met Lan's pensive ones. Their noses were just barely touching each other. "Do you believe in me?" He asked.

"Yeah." Lan nodded. He found himself inexplicably drawn to those eyes, fixed on them, unable to look away even long enough to blink. He felt a wetness seeping in to his eyes and for a moment nearly mistook it for rain.

"Then believe me when I tell you that I'm alright, I'm right here, and I'm not going any where." Megaman lifted his hand to slowly wipe away the tears forming in Lan's eyes with a soft, careful smile, "Don't worry..." He cooed, before closing his eyes and was drawn in to another tentative kiss. Then he moved down to Lan's neck, trailing down his chest with warm and wet kisses, he dropped to his knees, before running down Lan's stomach with his tongue. Megaman slipped his fingers into the waist band of Lan's shorts and tugged them down to the boy's ankles, unavailing his hard cock, twitching slightly with energy. "Trust me..." Megaman leaned forward and took the length into his mouth, surrounding the hardness with a humid breath and a warm wetness..

The moment Megaman's wet tongue pressed against the bottom of Lan's cock, when he felt that first humid breath against the sensitive flesh. Lan shuttered and let out a yelp, clinching Megaman's shoulders tighter, his fingers clinched into the toned fleshed. "Ahh..." The boy let his head fall back against the wall, soft whimpers escaped from his tightly clinched lips and hard breaths blew harshly when the warm pressure enveloped around his member when Megaman began sucking. A jolt made it's way through his form building the tense energy up even farther, he could feel the pre-cum begin oozing steadily out of him. "That feels..."

Megaman drew back, removing everything save the head from his mouth, and began swirling his tongue around the tender area.

"Mega...Megaman!" Lan tensed, his fingers clinching Megaman tightly. With all self control deteriorated, Lan thrust upward into Megaman's mouth which instinctively tightened around him. He quickly shifted his hands around Megaman's head and drove himself wildly into the slick warmth, his body spasmed and his cock twitched. With a loud outcry he came, spurting his thick seed into Megaman's awaiting mouth. He quickly emptied himself and the taunt energy that had built inside of him slipped away with it. He slumped weakly where he stood, one hand resting over his pounding heart and the other hanging loosely to his side, his eyes drifting closed without having realized it. He felt as though a hard tension had been eased in a glorious relief, and his entire being had no solidity and was being washed away, diluted in to the rain. Consciousness returned sharp and hard when his open mouth, swallowing deep gasps of air, met with Megaman's for a third time, only to be lost again in the kiss, in the motions of his tongue and the invading others.

- ! -

_And then again maybe you won't_

- ! -

He opened his eyes again and smiled weakly when the met with Megaman's who was now standing, his larger form hanging above him. He could feel the heat drifting from his body, he could see the subtle traces of sweat trickling down, but contrastingly his body appeared cold in the wavering shades of blue shining through the rain drenched window. Thunder, with a smooth fluidity in it's deep tones, rolled above their heads, and lighting flashed in the distance, illuminating the entire room in a snap shot.

Megaman slipped his fingers through the soft brown strands of Lan's hair and grasped his head in a delicate grip. "I love you." He whispered.

Lan's smile grew a bit fonder. "I love you too..." He stood idle and expectant when he felt Megaman's hands slowly slipping down his back until they gripped his waist and paused in the same careful, delicate manner as always. Lan looked up at him wordlessly, his cheeks became flushed with embarrassment as he gave a silent permission to proceed. Megaman couldn't help but grin at the suddenly timid expression that had come over the boy as he pushed his pants down just barely enough to reveal his own cock. He slipped his hands behind Lan's legs with delicate caresses and lifted him up, pinning him against the wall with his chest.

Megaman pressed his own larger member against Lan's in what felt to the boy as a teasing maneuver, was larger , scooping the remains of Lan's cum from the tip of the softened cock and rubbing it over the head of his own. "Ready?" He asked softly, readjusting his hips until his cock was pressing against Lan's entrance. He burred his head into Lan's neck, softly kissing and and licking...

"Yeah..." Lan tilted his head back even farther and closed his eyes, feeling a profound sense of relaxation. His ears were trained on to the crashing of the rain and his body upon Megaman nibbling in to the sensitive flesh between his shoulder and neck. It dulled his consciousness into a half state of awareness, he almost didn't expect it when he felt the hardness of Megaman's cock pushing through the tight ring muscles of his entrance and stretching the inner walls. He bit down on his bottom lip and bit back a grunt from the initial discomfort like no other, it always felt strangely at first.

- !-

_When you're older you might understand_

- ! -

Megaman let his entire cock sink into Lan's body, his fingers clinching Lan's legs tighter with an anxious energy rising in his waist that was hard to contain. He pulled back slowly and then pushed in again, his movements gained a rhythm, it's own pulse. "Lan..." He moaned, letting his weight fall more on to the boy and his thrust become harder and faster, deeper.

Lan wrapped his arms around Megaman's shoulders and his legs around his waist, his heart was beating so loudly in his ears he wouldn't have doubted Megaman could have heard it at that moment. His body fell into a natural sync with the other's, and the once discomfort became a completion. The strength of Megaman's arms supporting him the warmth of his body pressed against him, just lightly hinted with sweat, the feel of his mouth against his neck and his breath against his skin, with Megaman inside of him he felt a fullness that could never come from anything else.

"L-Lan!" Megaman bit down softly on Lan's shoulders, his fingers clinching Lan's legs in an almost painful grip. He moaned loudly, his outcry muffled in Lan's neck, as he came. It was intense on his at times overly sensitive body, he clinched his eyes tightly and grunted loudly. His cock twitched and his body spasmed, releasing a thick volume of cum into Lan's body in a burst of liquid heat. Slowly Megaman sunk , falling on to knees just as the last of his seed filled Lan and his softening member pulled away.

A comfortable silence spread between them, filled with the sound of rain and heavy, panting breaths. Lan leaned forward and laid his head on Megaman's shoulder, his arms still holding tightly to his neck.

"Megaman?" Lan finally spoke again, his voice timid and shy, almost as if he didn't want to be noticed. It was so much easier just to allow himself to fall asleep afterwords, as his body continued to draw him towards, but he couldn't. It felt awkward and uncomfortable, yet Lan still persisted.

Megaman felt his breath slowly return to normal and the heat inside of him begin to subside and he began to notice the cool air surrounding him like a blanket. He held on to Lan, enjoying the radiating warmth from the smaller body in his arms. The awe of the hyper-tangible world he was now immersed in was most present in him now, he last thing he wanted to do was to let go."Huh?"

"You...meant what you said right?" He asked, as if unable to believe what he'd heard, that it was simply just something that had been said in the moment and no longer applied. It was awkward enough to think about it, but it had meant more to him then he'd realized. He feared the doubt he felt was true, so much so that he had to force himself to ask such a question. Even as he knew how childish it sounded, and even as he hated himself for that at the moment, and as timid and reluctant as he was. He had to ask it.

"Of course I did Lan." Megaman responded.

Lan simply nodded and closed his eyes, allow his senses to become reenveloped in the falling rain, allowing his consciousness to be dulled and diluted and scattered about. His awareness was slowly swallowed, eclipsed in the darkness behind his eyelids slowly growing over his vision and he quickly fell asleep in Megaman's arms. 'Megaman.' In the twilight of his consciousness, he realized it, the nagging feeling, how much of a connection there really was between Megaman and Zero. 'You guys...'

- ! -

_When you're older you might understand_

- ! -

! - ! - !

! -! - !


	22. Chapter 21: Control how to save a life

Chapter 21: Control (How to save a life)

! -! -!

Alright, this chapter is gonna be a little long, but it has a really good ending, so bare with it. And again, thanks to all of you who reviewed, I never thought I'd get so many. Thanks so much.

How to save a life by The Fray

! - ! - !

_Don't expect too much variation from yesterday in the forecast, we're still facing that string of storm fronts, but they're patchy at best. Expect scattered showers through out today and tomorrow, it's gonna be a hit or miss type of situation, parts of the area will get a little, some will get a lot, others will get nothing at all. Expect temperatures in the mid 40's..._

Enzan was wrapped up in his work as strongly as ever, as Blues anticipated he would be. He'd noticed Enzan seemed a bit lost at first, overwhelmed even, he clearly didn't know where to start. The boy had said it was because he was out of the loop so long that he'd lost his feel for it, that changed quickly enough, he seemed to drift into his natural orbit and get into the swing of things.

Enzan was at his most comfortable when he was working, something Blues had noted a long time ago, he never complained, he seldom stopped. Maybe it was a control issue, Maybe Enzan defined himself by his level of efficiency and equivalently, usefulness, whatever it was he was good at it. He'd probably gotten only about 2 hours total of sleep throughout the last day, though no one would ever notice it over the caffeine and Enzan's general linear demeanor of subtitle amusement and callus indifference. Between all of the phone calls and meetings with his father... also over the phone, not to mention the major shortage of employees, which meant he was the one that had to do the most. He was the one that had to fill in where he could, help at lest a little bit everywhere to the best of his capacity, he was the one that had to make the decisions, or hear and sign off on every one. He was the one that was still scrambling to get vacant positions filled so they could reach at lest 50 percent capacity. Enzan was the one who had to coordinate repairs and damage control, Enzan was the one who had the pivotal position here, which meant he couldn't leave until everything was under control.

Though he wouldn't admit it, Enzan was scared, this place was on it's last leg and could fall at any moment. Everything had spiraled out of his control, his life had spiraled out of his control and was still slipping. He felt lost, scattered, disorganized, it made him anxious and relentless every moment, he couldn't put it properly in words, it was this extreme feeling that something inside of him was very, very wrong and could only be fixed if he got a handle on something. So he worked, struggling to feel that he some sense of control over something again, that _something_ was right and in order, and maybe then he himself would feel right and in order.

Blues was fairly limited in what he could do, he'd been detailed to data recovery, which was important, but he found his most important role was manly to keep Enzan company. And to prevent him from losing his sanity in all of the work. He watched as Enzan ,who was seated in the center of the control room, which had faired well enough besides some noticeable structural damage to the wall the walls, at one of the terminals that were still working. Enzan was leaned back lazily, careful to retain the balance of the a cell phone in his lap (He'd been on hold off and on for 30 minutes now), and sure not to disturb the order of binders, folder and bare paper work spread out in messy piles circled on the ground around him. Enzan almost leisurely looked over a few old papers in aid with a new one, at least it seemed leisurely, at this point it was hard to tell either way.

- ! -

_Step one you say we need to talk _

_He walks you say sit down it's just a talk_

- ! -

"Shouldn't you be focusing on getting people who do these types of things instead of doing it yourself?" Blues asked.

Enzan didn't look up, his eyes continued to scan over small lines of text, squinting every so often when they began to run together. "I'm on hold." He said gruffly. He'd admit that it was a bit overwhelming, so many things coming at him at once, finances, staffing, salvage and construction, and just about every problem that could possibly go wrong that his opinion would be needed on. Also the fact that his father constantly called, pressuring him to take farther reprieve, trying to convince him that this was too much for him to handle and he should just turn it over to him. Enzan was always good at dealing with pressure, and he never was one to give up, he sure as hell wasn't going to allow himself to fail, and he told his father just that. Though, he was grateful that in his father's indirect, inarticulate way, he was trying to look out for him, as rare as it well.

"You _are_ aware that you just got out of the hospital aren't you?" Blues reminded him in a rather cynical manner. "You haven't eaten or slept at all in 18 hours, I'm sure even _you_ have a limit."

"Maybe I do, but this ain't it." Enzan leaned over the table, slipped the pen from behind his ear and began transcribing something he'd found in the endless stacks of papers on to a new form. He had a snow storm of paper work to contend with, from contractors for every possible aspect of this island, to order forms for materials, to biohazardous contamination compliance, and of course he had to contend with the fire department doing their own surveying. "What'd you expect? No one said this was gonna be a short process."

"Even the networking guys get to eat, and go home." Blues retorted. " And I'm sure someone will understand if you go to sleep after 18 hours of working."

Enzan didn't particularly want to stop, he'd settled into a steady pace, once he started working he became so involved with it that it was hard to stop. After being bombarded the first 2 hours with things and scrambling to resolve them all, his body made it painfully clear to him that he no longer had the physical capacity to handle things in such ways. So he spent then the next 3 hours staking out a decent place to centralize his efforts and prioritize everything. Luckily, the control room happened to be it Since the structural damage to the walls made the place look worse then it actually was, and the facilities networks weren't on line so none of the computers worked, no one else found any particular need to be in here. It was quiet, and isolated, and Enzan wanted to keep it that way, by hour 6 he'd bared everyone else from the room, they were to only enter when they had a problem that absolutely required his intervention. "Tch, like I have time to rest, I'll sleep when I'm dead." Enzan 's eyes skimmed over the pages of a report, then he quickly tossed it aside, he was only looking for the most resent things they had hard copies of, of what survived he needed the things that were constructed as near to the date of the accident at possible.

Blues didn't say it, but in a distant, calm, awful way, that was what he feared, or at lest something dreadfully irreparable would happen to Enzan if he continued on like this. "I'm sure you will." The navi half mumbled. "Maybe your father is right, you-"

Enzan tilted his head from behind the paper and looked at Blues with a baleful glare. "Take that back."

"Tch, good luck." Blues looked away dismissively. "For all you know your just making yourself worse with all this moving around, I'm not even going to go into what happened in the hospital."

Enzan felt a twinge of annoyment when Blues brought that up, the last thing he wanted to be reminded of was that, he felt a deep seated shame when he even thought of it, as if he had done something wrong in his weakness. Needless to say he was embarrassed when Blues said it, and that embarrassment quickly burned into annoyment. "..." Enzan didn't respond, Blues had him there and he knew it, the baleful glare only intensified. "The point is, I'm fine. I'm not tired."

But Blues was long immune to it, as well as Enzan's tendency to ignore his own limitations, and paid it no mind. "Your too stubborn for your own good sometimes, you know that." He said, he folded his arms in a resentful defeat, he knew there was only so much he could say until he was sure Enzan was past the point of his means of convention.

"So they tell me." Enzan leaned over the side of his chair and began digging through the messy piles of things scattered about, still careful to balance the phone in his lap, he could still hear the hold music. "You know, your one to talk about being stubborn." He couldn't possibly take a break, he still had to a million things to deal with, he still had to talk to the fire department and all six of the inspectors, that was definitely a priority. The contractors he hired wanted to repair and build over some of places most damaged by the flames, if the inspectors decided an area was too unsound, it would have to be demolished and that was the type of thing that needed to be decided. " Zero-"

"You better not be saying what I think your about to say." Blues interjected .

Enzan felt a small smirk twinging at the edge of his lips, if there was anything he enjoyed, it was watching Blues and Zero. "You know it's true." He said teasingly, his eyes rolling away absentmindedly, as if he wasn't infuriating Blues.

"Says you." Blues shook his head.

"Whatever you say Blues, and I'm the one in denial." Enzan leaned back in his seat, his form lipping into a slouch, he slowly lifted one leg with a grunt, about half way up he had to use his hands to manually lift the weak limb on to the table. With a sharp exhale he relaxed again, holding up another paper.

"What was that?" Blues asked in a matter of factly tone.

"_That_ was nothing." Enzan told him.

"Sure it was." Blues seemed to be throughly satisfied with himself.

- ! -

_He smiles politely back at you _

_You stare politely right on through_

- ! -

"Your that worried about me huh?" Enzan smiled in a mildly arrogant way, just to tease Blues.

"Tch, Your just being stubborn and stupid." Blues said with a stoic evasiveness, there was no way he'd admit to that, under any circumstances. "If your gonna be stubborn, at lest take a break, go get something to eat."

"I'm not..." Enzan paused mid-sentence, with his mind momentarily off of working it was free to contemplate all of his body contents, mainly his stomach. A apprehensive expression came to his face, he would have never realized this if Blues hadn't mentioned it. "Maybe I am a little hungry." He conceded. Enzan decidedly pulled his leg off of the table and clinched the back of his chair to push himself up on to his feet. With a silent glance he wordlessly signaled to Blues he would be back as soon as he was able, then he made his way to the door, grabbing a hold of anything stable enough to support his weight on the way out. It took him longer then he would have liked to admit to reached the door, but he easily pried it open.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Blues sat silently, legs crossed, arms folded, debating with himself silently. He was still inside of his P.E.T, and couldn't decide if he wanted to remain there or not. Truthfully he was bored, Blues seemed to find himself in that restless state often as of late. He had the task of data recovery, and that was a task wanted to get back to, it wasn't nearly as tedious it sounded. But he wanted to wait for Enzan to return first, though he knew in Enzan's state that could take quite a while.

Blues peeked one eye open and immediately flinched when they met Zero's blues ones. The half navi was standing over him, leaning down far enough to bring them uncomfortably close. "Zero?" His startled face immediately shifted into an furious one when he saw Zero begin to laugh.

"Oh, did I scare you?" Zero asked sarcastically,relishing in seeing the usually stoic, strong, infallible Blues so easily impelled into startlement."That look on your face! It's priceless!"

"What the hell!" Immediately Blues sent a sharp kick to Zero's chest and shoved him backwards. "Stop doing that!" He growled in anger.

Zero fell on to his back, wrapping his arms around the pained spot in his stomach, still unable to stop laughing. "I couldn't resist." He stifled his laugher to catch his breath, deciding it was better to stop before Blues got anymore angry. When the dull, yearning ache for air in his lungs eased and the pain in his stomach faded, Zero rolled off of his side and laid flat on his back. "So, whatcha been up too?"

Blues climbed to his feet, his arms folded across his chest and his gaze begrudgingly watching Zero from the corner of his vision. He watched those bright blue eyes with the child like content in it's gaze, the easy, coy smile, the way Zero was lose

and relaxed, much different then before. Unexplained relief crept over him when he saw Zero's demeanor had normalized, he was significantly better then the last time he was with him, and as annoying as it was, he could honestly say he liked this Zero better then the other. "You have no medium do you?" Blues grunted with annoyment.

"Huh?" Zero tilted his head and looked up at him questioningly. "What does that mean?"

"Forget it, I don't want you to hurt yourself idiot."Blues waved his hand dismissively, with his anger dissipated he sat back down and resumed his former position.

Zero rolled his eyes. "You really are mean." He feigned hurt, to which Blues ignored, and when Zero noticed that he quickly gave up on it. "But you did say you didn't want me to hurt myself, you really do give a damn huh?"

"Yeah right, it's just so much more satisfying if I do it myself." Blues retorted sarcastically.

"I bet you probably just sat here all day." Zero crawled over to Blues and looked over his shoulder, speaking in a taunting manner. "Doing that thing you always do, with that look on your face you always have." Zero said, grinning a little when he saw the aggravation growing on Blues' face. "That's the one."

"Do you go home and work on being annoying or are you really like this?" Blues coldly shoved a sharp elbow back into Zero's chest and pushed him away. "I find it hard to believe anyone could be this aggravating."

"Come on, what'd you do all this time?" Zero asked. "What can you do in a place like this? Everything's broken."

"I worked."

"Should've guessed." Zero shrugged, he pushed himself off the ground and paced around, resting his arms behind his head absentmindedly and his eyes upward. "What can you really do in a place like this though, is there anything left to do anything with?"

"Yeah, a good amount."Blues said, "I have to salvage what I can, after that's done, delete the rest."

Zero walked past Blues' side and stared outward, "Sounds interesting." He mumbled sarcastically. He turned around with a pseudo smile and his eyes bright again with impatience and anxiousness. "Let's go do something, your not working right now anyway."

"What do you mean do something? Do what?" Blues opened his eyes and looked up at him with a half curious glance.

"I dunno, get out of here, we can find something to do. What do you say?" Zero's eyes became pleading and hopeful, he didn't want to be alone,he didn't too well on his own, he hated it in fact, and he also hated being bored.

"No." Blues said simply and callously.

"Aw come on, why in the hell do you wanna just sit here, you are the most boring person I have ever met." Zero wined, he sat down again in front of Blues and looked at him scrutinizingly, "How do you just keep from going crazy."

"Unlike you, I don't need constant stimulation. I actually like peace." Blues leaned forward and looked back at him with the same look with a sarcastic taint to it. "Do you know what that is? It's still, it's quiet, it's when your not being constantly bothered."

"Yeah, sure, I know what it is, to a point, then it's just boring." Zero shot back. "How can you stand being with yourself?"

"Tch, I actually like myself, I'm not annoying." Blues fired back just as hard.

Zero smiled softly and looked upwards innocently."You think your not." He mumbled.

- ! -

_Some sort of window to your right _

_As he goes left and you stay right_

- ! -

"What?"

Zero became immensely satisfied when he heard the twinge in Blues' voice. "Nothing."

"Nothing my ass." Blues growled, his eyes narrowed dangerously."What do you in those hours when normal people sleep?"

Zero restlessly fell backwards and stared upward lazily, he didn't respond immediately, and his expression remained unchanging.

Blues leaned forward and looked over him curiously, all at once he felt suspended, as if his mind had simply stopped and began bracing for impact. Vague thoughts ran through his mind quick and dry, just barely strung together by experience learned logic, it couldn't have been more then 3 seconds until he reached the end of the thread .Was something wrong, was he alright? Maybe he wasn't, did he hear him? Maybe he didn't. He does look curiously similar to those other times he just stared out in to space, was Zero fading out again? "Zero?" His voice was tinted with more questioning then he realized.

"Well...just about what your doing now." Zero finally answered.

Blues' body eased away from the tension it was gaining and he released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. It was subtle almost, Blues barely realized his body reacted as if it had just been hurled off a cliff every time he got the barest hint that something was happening to Zero, he always stalled, he was always unsure of what was happening, or what to do. It was all so quick and inane it was completely separate from his consciousness, it was as biological as his breathing, it was as habitual as his concern for Enzan. But this was different, it was just foreign, confusing and annoying enough to stick out to him enough to be contemplated. "Really..."

"I've been doing nothing but sitting by myself for hours, is that peaceful enough for you?" Zero asked with a voice of self-complacency, a smugness that could only come from the feeling of a small victory. He sat up and leaned forward, bringing himself face to face with Blues, a deviant smirk on his face and a juvenile glint in his eyes. "Let's go some where, do something, you must be bored."

Blues closed his eyes and looked away, but he couldn't help peeking at him, and inevitably, silently relenting. "Fine, if it'll shut you up."

Zero smiled brightly, "Heh, heh, So where do you wanna go?"

Blues glared at him and growled. "You mean to tell me you've been bugging me all this time and you don't even know where you wanna go!"

"Well, I was hoping you could pick out a place."

"Idiot..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"No way." Enzan pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against opposite of the fourth vending machine he'd come across and began walking, deciding he'd had enough rest. Just as the first two he'd come across, the machine was empty. It was understandable, he'd decided, since the first vending machine was right in front of a string of this floor's server rooms, where the engineers had been working, and a good 35 percent of the staff were engineers. Hell, they made up 40 percent of the staff that was actually here. They were working hard, they got hungry, he understood that, sure, and since food now was a limited commodity on this god forsaken rock, it would be understandable that they would clear out those vending machines. And by all means, that was fine, Enzan had decided, so without grudge the boy painstakingly made his way towards the next machine. Though his memory of the building's landscape wasn't that good, since he often didn't focus on details as he should have, he nearly got lost, for a person of his condition that was not a good thing.

With a dull numbing starting to form in his left leg and limp increasing, Enzan made it to vending machine number 3, and he wasn't happy to find out it was broken due to fire, or smoke damage more accurately. There was no way in hell he would mess with it, and he had to remember to call disposal and... call...call? '!' "Damnit!" Enzan flinched and stopped abruptly at the sudden realization that he was so busy thinking that he'd forgotten about the open phone in his pocket. Enzan leaned against the wall again and pulled it out, hurriedly bringing it to his ear, "Hello?" Only to find the line blank, apparently they'd stopped putting him on hold long enough to answer, and he'd missed it. Son of a bitch. 'Why don't I just give up on this?' He wanted too, he really wanted to, but he needed staffing, preferably before the 7am shift, that's when most of the boats that came to his island departed..

- ! -

_Between the lines of fear and blame _

_And you begin to wonder why you came_

- ! -

Damnit, why did he have to think so much, where was the focus? With a grunt of annoyment he began redialing the number, waiting for an answer as he continued his search for food. He moved slowly, still holding one hand against the wall while he balanced the phone between his head and shoulder. He felt as if his limb was gone and had been replaced by something artificial, he was balancing on something stiff where his left leg should have been. It wasn't painful at the moment, so he could bare it. Though as much as he discarded it, it did unnerve him, to be suddenly losing function in legs. How bad would this get? Could he really end up... Enzan shook his head 'Stop thinking.' It was no use thinking about such things, he couldn't do anything about it...'I wonder how Lan's doing.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Blues' callus disregard fell away and he was helpless to nothing but stared in a reluctant awe, watching as both pairs of wings appeared on Zero's back, the snowy white wings overlapping the deep black ones stretched out to full span. Blues quickly shook his head and looked away with annoyment, embarrassed for having been so fixated on any of Zero's features no matter how uncommon it was. "Show off." He mumbled.

Zero leaned forward and sneered at him tauntingly. "Whatever." Then his eyes flickered the light of an idea as if he'd just realized something, he was often late on his comebacks, but in his defense he didn't nearly have the experience Blues had in arguments. He pointed "Your one to talk! Mr. I'm so cool."

Blues smirked with a condescending amusement, there was something he always entertaining in watching Zero get so worked up. "Your such an idiot." He said with a small laugh.

Zero grew even more angry when he saw Blues simply laughing at his anger, he folded his arms and turned away, his wings drifting over his shoulder and hugging over his chest defensively. "Asshole."

"Wuss." Blues scuffed, he looked towards the half-navi to get a glance of his face, only to find he wasn't there. '!' Before he had a chance to question it, he felt two arms slipping underneath his arms in a locking hold and Zero's chest against his back, right before he saw Zero's chin rest on his shoulder.

"Whatever!" He grinned devilishly as he flapped both wings and shot upwards in a sharp burst, dragging Blues with him.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Stop!" Blues couldn't contain the startled yelp that forced it's way past his lips as he watched the ground plummet from underneath his feet and he felt the strong surge of downward wind and the nauseating pull on his stomach.

"Your not afraid are you?" Zero taunted, it was amusing, to see something this uncommon, this inconceivable made him feel a little giddy even. The completely unshakable Blues was most definitely shaken, Zero leaned forward even farther to catch a glimpse of the Navi's face and the startled expression was burned into his memory along with the few other faces of Blues he'd rarely seen beyond the callous stone expression.

"Stop damnit! Slow down!" Blues shouted, his voice a lot less startled and far more threatening , he sent a sharp elbow backwards into Zero's side and flinched when he felt the impact through Zero's body. He subconsciously reached up and grabbed on to Zero's arms, shifting a little,

Zero's wings stilled and stretched out full, bringing himself and Blues to a complete stop much faster then Blue's would have liked. "Ow, Geez, you didn't have to hit me."

Blues slumped weakly and tried to settled his pounding heart, hoping to relax enough not to scream in frustration. He shifted his legs around as if he'd somehow find something stable enough to support his weight so he could walk away and regain some semblance of himself and the control over his fate he had on the ground. But of course there was none and he forced himself not to cling to Zero, at lest then he'd be on something solid and stable maybe he wouldn't feel like he was about to fall so much. "You son of a bitch, what the hell are you doing?" He snapped furiously, his voice dangerously low.

"I didn't think you'd get so scared." Zero's small voice was quelled slightly from fear, but still remained and contemptuous victory.

"What'd you just call me?"

"Hey, calm down, I _am_ holding you you know." Zero said in a matter-of-fatly tone, growing more satisfied by the second. His wings beat in a soft, steady pulse, keeping them suspended where they were.

"Yeah, about that." Blues looked back at him with a glare as dangerous as his voice. "Put me down. And if you call me scared one more time I'm gonna strangle you."

"Tch, if your not scared, then why are you holding on to me?" Zero asked, indicating his arms where Blues' grip still held on to him, though not as tight as it once had been.

'?"Blues looked to where Zero's arms were still hocked underneath his own arms, and found that his hands were still clinching Zero's forearms, he promptly removed them, looking away with disregard. "That was nothing." Just a reflex, that was all, that was it.

"Well, what about now? Why are you still so jumpy?" He asked, half to prove Zero wrong, but also out of a growing curiosity. There was always something that made him feel hopelessly immature against Blues, as if Blues had infinitely more knowledge and experience in every aspect, and he was merely a young, admiring child that wanted to learn and be acknowledged by him. Dispite the fact that Blues's constant insistences on solitude and his isolated nature never failed to agitate him, Zero was constantly trying to understand him. It was a challenge, since Blues constantly pushed him away, literally, but he'd still persist, he was starting to think a little too much for his own good.

- ! -

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend _

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

- ! -

"I'm not jumpy." Blues protested, "Just put me down." But as usual, Zero didn't seem to be listening to him, the half-navi was fixed in his own world, his attention was focused more on trying to construe something out of every one of his actions then complying with his requests.

"Oh, I get it." Zero stretched forward and leaned as far over Blues' shoulder as he could, he looked into Blues' eyes as innocently and simply as anyone, even more so considering what he was saying. "Your scared I'm gonna drop you. Don't worry about that, I'd never drop _you_!" He exclaimed brightly, a wide grin spreading across his lips, the argumentative tones in his voice were completely gone, replaced by friendly, casual one. As if what he was saying was absolutely nothing, if it wasn't at all an infringement on Blues' pride and his ego, as if it wasn't at all insulting to him.

Blues folded his arms and looked away angrily. But try as he might he found he couldn't be angry at Zero, when he saw that innocent look on Zero's face and knew he didn't mean to insult him, he wasn't arguing, shifting from combativeness into his normal, idyllic self like a swift mood swing. Though that certainly didn't calm him down any. "I'm not scared." He growled again.

"Yes you are." Zero shook his head, disputing Blues with a playful tone. "I'm not gonna drop you, really, I know what I'm doing."

"Tch, like I'm gonna believe that." Blues half mumbled.

"Ahh, so you really _are_ scared!" Zero exclaimed with a child like excitement, having found an evident weakness in what seemed like the impeccable Blues. "I told you."

"I'm not scared! I just don't the idea of an idiot like you carrying me." Ok, maybe he was a little unnerved by the whole thing, he wasn't particularly afraid of heights, but he was afraid of Zero, of the possibility of him making a mistake more accurately. "Just put me down."

"Really?" Zero was a little disappointed, at lest Megaman had had a little bit of fun, Blues on the other hand was hating this completely. "Cause' I'm not gonna drop you, really!" Zero wrapped his arms tightly around Blues' chest and held him with a firm security.

"Whatever, Just put me down." Blues declined. He felt nothing now except sullen anger and a crushing sense of shame. He couldn't calm himself down, he couldn't force himself to relax, he couldn't even appear to be unphased. He hated the fact that Zero was the person that got him this shaken up, he didn't want to react this way, especially after he'd went through so much trouble to try and convince him that he wasn't afraid of him. He couldn't stand it, what was even worse was the fact that Zero was witnessing it all, whether the half-navi was taking notice to it or not.

Zero was too busy trying to convince him other wise to notice, or particularly care, "Oh come on, don't be like that, I got you." Zero was starting to get the sense that it was less about Blues being afraid of falling, as it was Blues being afraid of what he'd do. The last thing Zero wanted was for it to be him, though, it seemed unavoidable. "Really Blues, I'm not-"

"Stop saying that." He grumbled, his annoyment increasing. "I'm not afraid."

"Of heights maybe...You really think I'd drop you though?"

"How the hell would I know what you'd do?" Blues snorted. His uneasiness grew the longer he was suspended, he sifted his legs around and felt even more strongly how he was helplessly dangling, as if he was stretched over some void and about to fall in, only something was delaying it.

"I know what I'd do, and I'd never drop you." Zero said, pleading to making him understand, trying to convince Blues that he should trust him. It felt strange, actually being the one trying to convince himself to Blues for the first time, he felt an introverted worth from this, that he could . "I'd fall myself before I'd let you fall, hell, I'd die before I let you fall."

Blues looked up at him queerly, 'W-where is this coming from?' He was knocked off balanced by it at first, but he began to feel silly for being surprised by anything Zero did. He was so random, it was just his way, and Blues expected it from him. "Just put me down." He mumbled, looking away reluctantly, listening inanely to the sound of Zero's beating wings sloshing through the air in a heart beat like pulse. He didn't yell, he felt too guilty to yell.

"Why, what's so bad? I know your not afraid of heights, so what's the problem." Zero knew he was annoying Blues, he knew he was making him more furious by the second by continuing to hold him here against his explicitly expressed will. But he couldn't help himself, he always pushed these things, as if he was expecting Blues to say something but he didn't know what it was exactly, he only had the vague feeling that it was bad.

- ! -

_And I would have stayed up with you all night _

_Had I known how to save a life _

- ! -

Zero seemed obsessed with it, Blues wasn't exactly happy with the fact that that he was still holding him, and focusing on somethings he didn't exactly want to think about, or want Zero thinking about. "I don't like it ok! Stop talking and put me down!"

Zero's expression dampened to one similar to that of a chastised puppy and he pulled back from over Blues' shoulder.

Damnit! What the hell was that? What was that look? And this churning feeling of guilt that started in his stomach began, as if he had done something wrong when he normally wouldn't have been so inclined to feel this way about being harsh. He hated it because he was helpless, weak, he could fall at any moment and could do nothing about it, he was afraid because he had no control over anything. He was completely in Zero's hands, the faster and higher he went, the more dangerous it seemed to become, even if Zero was fairly competent at this this. He had no control and he was entirely in someone else's, that was a dangerous place to be. He didn't trust Zero that strongly, he didn't trust anyone strongly not to be afraid. He didn't have a grip on anything, so he felt that anything could happen and there was nothing he could do about it, wasn't he right to be uneasy about that? Wasn't he justified in being a little afraid? So he shouldn't have felt bad about this right, so why did he? 'Damn Zero!' This was why he hated him so much.

He was reluctant to admit it, even to himself, but he was starting to feel as if he'd committed some nameless wrong, and the growing, unpleasant feelings it drew raised his anger. If only it was so simple as to walk away, it was unfortunate that he was hanging here since there was no place to go.

"I get it...I can understand that. I mean if I were in your position, I guess I wouldn't want someone like me carrying them around like this either." Zero conceded his defeat, finally accepting his answer, though sullen.

"No Zero it's not about that!" Blues quickly objected, with a venomous tone.

"I'm not talking about what your thinking!" Zero shouted back, almost offended that Blues didn't give him enough credit, though, who wouldn't make that mistake with someone like him. "It's not about me hating myself, or something like that...Anything could happen to me at this point, I could just drift out... then what you do,I wouldn't trust me either." Actually, he never thought that, he started to feel even worse for bringing him up here with out himself as a lifeline.

"Zero...I-I" Blues was at a loss, he didn't know what to say. Damnit, Zero caused him a lot of problems, he never had to go through so much trouble with anyone else. He never had to go through the anxiety of explaining himself, his actions, his words, he never had to put aside his pride and make awkward steps to compromise himself for someone else's sake. He constantly found himself in a state of annoyment, anger, uncomfortable, awkwardness, and even embarrassment around the half-navi. Why did he put up with this? Why did he constantly put up with the person who caused an uprise of uneasy, unwanted, and vaguely similar feelings? It was almost like fear what he felt around Zero, why did he remain around someone who created such a weakness in him? "Zero! Damnit! I'm not scared your gonna black out or any of those other weird things you do!" He shouted, he was angry because he knew Zero was always in an inner torment of pain, and he felt as though he was powerless to help him. So frequently he held towards him an attitude of iron reserve, never allowing it completely enter his consciousness how fully Zero hated himself, how ashamed he was of his existence or the constant pain Zero felt of being comprised of two sides toxic to each other. He never allowed himself to be empathic to it, to even try to understand what it was like, and it was all conscious efforts to do so. It was an uneasy, awkward, painful thing to care for someone, and Blues sensed the moment he allowed himself to contemplate the full scope Zero's existence beyond what he'd already had, he'd start to feel empathetically horrible. So he ignored him, he pushed him away, he shut him out, he screamed, he fought, he became inanely annoyed. But he still couldn't stop himself from worrying, from wondering about him, from putting up with this torment all together. Why? It wasn't logical to stay around someone who did this to him! Was it not better to have never allowed Zero to be near him at all then to have to feel embarrassed and uneasy and worry and go through this? Wouldn't it be better not to have know him at all then to feel this dreaded-

"You are, you'd have to be to-"

"I'm not! I just don't like it, so shut up and put me down."

"No way, your such a lier Blues, not till you admit it." Zero protested stubbornly.

If Blues could reach him, he would have Zero as hard as he could. "What the hell is wrong with you? What is it that you want to hear me say to you? Your not some kind of monster that's gonna go crazy or something like that, your just an idiot, a stupid, annoying idiot, and that's it!" Blues half yelled. "I'm not afraid your gonna drop me, So stop saying stuff like that!"

"You really think so?" Zero asked.

"Didn't I just say so? Stop being stupid!"

"Then..." Zero's voice trailed off, and he didn't speak for a moment, but eventually he forced the words out. "Then just trust me." Zero's voice was almost pleading, he needed this in way.

Blues thought that hanging his head and looking mutely at the ground was a kind of confession of his agreement and a petition for this to be over, but Zero had either not noticed it or accepted it as such, after a lengthy silence he was impelled to speak again to ease the tense swelling in his chest. It was incredible to Blues that what he did or the words he spoke could evoke such passion from anyone, how could anyone care so much about what he said... "Why are you so sure I don't?"

"Your not even trying!"

Blues became even more angry, damn him, he wouldn't be contented until he said something at one extreme or the other, why didn't he just let him be? Why didn't he just allow him to remain indifferent as he wanted to, he didn't want to insult Zero strongly, nor did he want to put himself completely out in the open. Grudgingly, Blues said it, for Zero's sake. "I trust you! Goddammit! I trust you alright! What do I have to do to make you understand that!" He had grown to trust him, despite his attempts not to, it had happened anyway. It wasn't a thing he exactly wanted to admit, it made him feel vulnerable, to place his self and his pride in the hands of some one else was dangerous, to reveal a thing that felt like a weakness. It would have just been easier to remain behind an indifferent wall.

"You...You really..."Zero paused and shook his head. "Then if you really do trust me then what's the problem?"

"Don't you listen idiot, I... don't like ..._this_." Another thing Blues was reluctant to admit, he looked away uneasily, if his trust in Zero wasn't a weakness, this most definitely was.

"..." Zero stared down Blues, silently contemplating, if Blues wasn't afraid of heights, or speed, or the factor he himself posed, then what was it? Why did he hate this so much? Why would Blues... "Well then I haven an idea." He announced.

"For goodness sake, just put me down already!"

"Hold on, just hear me out. All you have to do is get on my back."

"What?" Blues what a little surprised at the suggestion, and quickly declined. "No."

"Come on, I'm not asking you to do a lot." Zero commented, "Just get between my wings and grab on to my shoulders."

"Why are you-"

"You just said you trust me, so just climb on." Zero said, his face solemn, but his eyes held a silent questioning, almost a pleading. "It'll be much better, I promise, just try it."

"..." Blues was silent, wordlessly staring up at Zero, studying the look on his fas in bewilderment, he'd never seen that expression on his face before. And the way he spoke, it never failed to throw him off balance when Zero spoke so seriously, it was something that made him take notice, it held his attention in an almost captive fashion. Zero... why did he want this so badly? "..." Blues tore his eyes from Zero and stared off again, inwardly debating on a subconscious level with himself...Fine, for Zero's sake, he did seem to want it alot. "Fine."

Zero grinned. "Ok!" He grunted and began raising Blues up higher, and sloppily the two of them began shifting positions, it was not the most delicate of actions, nor the most graceful, it certainly wasn't a comfortable transfer. Blues managed to turn himself around so that he was face to face with Zero, and then began climbing him as best he could. With his hand around Zero's neck, he planted his foot on Zero's stomach and tried to pull himself up. "Ow, ow, ow!" Zero winced and buckled forward a bit, beating his wings harder to keep from losing balance. "Take it easy!"

"I can't take it easy!" Blues grumbled, trying to get enough traction for a small boost but as soon as Zero moved he was a lose finger away from falling, and Zero was moving around a lot. "Hold still." Blues' foot slipped for the third time and he was left dangling with Zero's neck as his only support, and again he planted his foot on Zero's stomach and tried to lift himself up, as quickly as possible before he ended up choking him.

"I can't hold still, it hurts." Zero again felt his body bending and instinctively he began pounding his wings to attempt to straiten up again. But it was too late, he felt himself bend and Blues slip again and reflexively he wrapped his arms around Blues' waist to catch him.

"This was your idea." Blues lifted his knee to Zero's chest , clinched on to his shoulders and pushed upward. With Zero pushing he finally managed to rest his knee on Zero's shoulder and from there it was a few awkward movements until he was hanging off of Zero's back between his wings. He let out a breath of relief.

Zero glanced back over his shoulder at Zero."Your not gonna hang there like that are you?" Having Blues hang like that didn't seem to inhibit the motion of his wings enough to affect flight.

Blues glared at him, it was embarrassing hanging here like this, and if he saw Zero's face twinge with the slightest bit of amusement, he'd hurt him. "What do you suggest?" He asked snidely.

"Climb up a little."

As much as he hated this position, Blues was reluctant to move, he wasn't sure exactly what he could do with out hurting him. After a small delay he nodded reluctantly, cautiously pulling himself up until he could place his foot in between the space between his wings. Slowly he stood up, one leg hanging off weakly, his hands still holding tightly on to Zero's shoulders. "Is...is this-"

- ! -

_Let him know that you know best _

_Cause after all you do know best_

- ! -

"Do you know how much pull on my back it is when I take off?" Zero laughed, "Do you know ho much tension is on that spot? I can't even feel my back, let alone feel you." Zero looked around, reaffirming his surrounds, before he turned his head over his shoulder and looked up at Blues. "So, just tell me which way to go."

"Huh, But your-"

"Really, just tell me which way and how fast."

Blues looked at him with uncertainty for a moment, unsure what to make of this. But it did feel better, being up here on something stable, holding on to something instead of being held on to. In fact, it had the potential to be quite nice. "...Yeah..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

4' o clock, in the morning. Even now, this late at night, or early in the morning more accurately, it wasn't quiet. There was always the dull sounds of distant voice, or the sound of something metallic, people working, it had all become merely ambient noise.

Enzan fell back on to the wall with a sharp grunt, his hand holding futility on to the flat surface for support, but it was no good, he only managed to ease his fall, not prevent it. It took a few seconds, but he'd finally sunk to the ground against his will, and almost immediately his hands reached out and grasped his legs tightly. "..." There was a hard, hot tingling, like boiling water pint up in his muscles, and instinctively Enzan rubbed them furiously like a dog licking it's wounds after a fight. "Damn things." He cursed them, he cursed himself for his weakness, there as nothing he could do. He didn't try to stand up again, he knew his legs would have just faltered underneath him, and the reality struck him that he was stuck here until his legs rested enough to continue.

_Gaaarrroooouuuuu_

Enzan sighed and let his head fall back against the wall as he heard his stomach growling. Blues, he had to be the one to blame for this, he was angry at Blues for reminding him of his hunger, but he was angry at Blues most of all because he had been right. Maybe he should have stayed and rested. "You just had to be right didn't you?" He mumbled. He was stuck here, in this white hall with white floors, and white walls, and florescent lights, surrounded in the ghostly company of the distant sounds of work persisting all around him. It was distant though, he never seemed to be close to it, he felt as if he was just a wondering ghost separate from the world, and no matter how he tried he couldn't return.

"Why here?" He moaned, the last thing he wanted was for someone to happen to come this way and see him like this, he didn't want to have someone help him, though at this point he wouldn't refuse it. Why didn't they bring him some food while they were were at it! Sure he'd figured food would be an endangered commodity, but he didn't think it'd be this scare. Enzan slipped his hand into his pocket, and after a moment of shifting, managed to pry lose his phone and lift it to his ear. Still on hold of course, but to it's tribute, it had only been a minute and a half since he last checked.

Maybe he could order something? Nah, Enzan shook his head and quickly dismissed the thought, it must have been the hunger that caused such an idea, that was stupid. Who would deliver all the way to an island? 'Maybe if I paid them enough.' He thought to himself... A moment past, and he found himself staring at the phone like a starving man at his first scrap of food in a week. He couldn't possibly...could he? Could he just abandon his second chance at reaching this ever elusive outsourced staffers? Whose idea was it to have such a vital part of human resources department work off site? Even if the did work on site, would they be here at 4 in the morning? Wait...'What was I thinking about...?' He was tired, and his generally forgetful mind seemed to get even worse. The point was, who know how long it would take to reach them again...Although, he hadn't reached anyone who could do anything more then transfer him yet this time and it'd been an hour...'What am I suppose to tell them? I'll be in the middle of hallway 2C?' Enzan shook his head, noway, this was stupid...

_Gaaaarrrroooouuuu..._

Enzan looked down at his stomach with a wilting expression forming on his face, the hot, tingling feeling in his legs was being swallowed by an even hotter sensation of itchy, prickling pressure pushing against his skin. He certainly wasn't going any where...'If Lan could see me now.' He thought to himself, he could see it so clearly, the worried look that so frequently tainted those brown eyes when ever Lan looked up at him. It was different from when Lan looked up at Megaman, there was still worry, but also a different quality between the two gazes, he wasn't sure what it was. 'Why am I thinking about this now?' Enzan shook his head with disregard and ended the call, he was starving, and there had to be some one willing to deliver. If there was, they would have his eternal gratitude and a large tip involved.

"_Hello?"_

'Huh?' Enzan looked down at the phone in his hand, 'Clumsy.' He really had to pay more attention, what number did he just dial? Damn head, why did he have to think so much? The boy quickly lifted the phone to his ear, "Uh...Hello?"

"Enzan?"

"Mr. Hikari?"Of all the numbers, Enzan couldn't believe he just dialed this one. Maybe it was just subconscious, he was too distracted to think about what he was doing and he'd inadvertently dialed this one.

Enzan heard Tadashi speak sleepily on the other end, his voice deep, low, rumbling and sluggish with semi-consciousness. "What is it?"

"No, sorry, I dialed the wrong number." Enzan apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"If your looking for Lan-"

"No, that's not it."

"Oh...well, since I'm up anyway, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing awake at 4 in the morning? I'd assume someone in your condition would be asleep."

Enzan sighed, again picturing just what Blues would say if he could see him right now. "Yeah well, I haven't exactly had much time for it." He replied half heartily. "Again I'm sorry about this, I was trying to call someplace else."

"I'm a bit curious as to what."

Enzan shifted his eyes away as if someone was watching him, an embarrassment from a tight knot in the depths of his stomach, he didn't respond at first. "..."

"Enzan, are you still there?" Tadashi asked curiously, then he quickly became worried, "Are you alright?"

Enzan quickly snapped out of it with an anxious start, the worry he heard in Tadashi's voice was like a a sharp nail being driven into his chest, it was the last thing he wanted to hear in anyone's voice when they spoke to him."No, no, there's nothing wrong, it was just that I was a little hungry and I was uh..." he was in such a hurry to convince Tadashi everything was fine that he'd ended up telling him anyway, he quickly became embarrassed again, and his words stumbled off.

Tadashi laughed softly, not exactly a welcome sound, "At 4 in the morning?"

"Yeah, I know." He half mumbled. Enzan was about to quickly taper off the conversation and hang up, but Tadashi spoke before he could.

"I know that feeling. I've had a lot of late nights myself, trust me, you'll never find anything." Tadashi told him, his voice still high with amusement, and quickly awakening. "Hmm... You know what, I'll just bring you something, I know a great restaurant that's always open."

"Huh? What? No way, Mr. Hikari, I really didn't mean to wake you up." Enzan declined.

"Heh, it's no problem, I was getting up soon enough anyway, I've got a lot of work ahead of me." Tadashi assured. "I'm just stop by the hospital and-"

"I'm not at the hospital Mr. Hikari."

"Huh? Really? You left? Don't tell me you went back to-"

"Yeah, I'm here." Enzan peered down both ends of the hallway, feeling as if he was the only person here.

"Lan's not with you is he?"

"He's still at the hospital."

"Hn." Tadashi sounded a bit relieved at that, "Why did you leave?"

"There's was no reason to stay."

"..." Tadashi was silent for a moment, "Well, then, I'll come there."

"What?" Enzan looked towards the phone in surprises, his voice filling with astonishment and at the same time a measure of bewilderment. "You can't come here."

"Nonsense, it'll be no trouble at all. Besides, I can see how Zero's doing."

'Zero?" Zero was here?...It shouldn't have surprised him, Zero did always seem to appear at the oddest times, like 5:30 in the morning. "...Y...Yeah, ok..." Then he had nothing left to do but accept, it wasn't like he was going anywhere.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Well?" Blues folded his arms and looked at Zero expectantly. Zero only rubbed the back of his neck and looked away like a reluctant child. "Are you gonna help or not?"

Zero stood a good distance away, trying his best to be inconspicuous for once. He wasn't exactly content to be by himself in a corner what seemed to be a million miles away, but he felt other wise he'd be in Blues' way "I..." Zero had to consciously force himself to keep from shifting, he knew Blues would have just gotten annoyed at it, he didn't feel much like calling attention to himself. "I, Uh-"

Blues rolled his eyes, Zero's attempt to be evasive was annoying in and of itself. "What's with you?" He asked grudgingly, he seemed to be in a constant state of mild aggravation when Zero was around, no matter what. "You coming or not?"

"I...Uh...I'm just gonna stay over here...out of your way." Zero smiled nervously and slouched back against the wall.

Blues simply left it alone and returned to his task of salvaging what data he could. Zero was able to get him into areas he couldn't reach on his own, with so much corrupted data there often was no path to speak of to reach certain areas completely surrounded by damaged files and virus remnants. This was one such place, it was like an island, nothing else could reach it. "..." It wasn't more then a few seconds before Blues looked over his shoulder again, he tried to ignore it but it nagged at him incontestably. Which was why he hated Zero so much, there was always something about him on his mind. "When as that ever stopped you?" He half mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I said what's wrong with you?" Blues lied, "You were just irritatingly happy, now your standing in a corner acting weird." This work, it was like digging through the ground blindly for something, only you didn't know what you were looking for until you saw it. It was hard and consuming, and normally a menial, engulfing task like this would be enough to keep his mind off of everything. He had no such luck when Zero was around.

"I'm not acting weird." Zero retorted.

"Your not acting normal." Blues corrected. "So what's the problem?"

It astounded Zero that Blues was actually asking him this, dispute the fact it seemed to be about of annoyment then actual concern. He timidly folded his arms and looked toward the ground. "Nothing, I just don't wanna be in your way."

It was strange to Blues that Zero would actually say something so oddly unannoying, to hear him talk in this manner, it made him suspicious. He didn't want to think that such a thing could be possible, but he knew Zero pretty well, and and he knew that tone of voice, that reluctant demeanor. It all seemed unnatural, fake. And that's why, with a deep sigh, Blues stopped what he was doing and turned towards Zero completely, his eyes studying him closely. "The hell you don't." He snorted with a cold amusement.

That callus, nearly arrogant response from Blues instantaneously ignited an infuriation in Zero. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"If there's one thing you do badly, it's lie, your faking it."

"What would you know?" Zero grunted, he nearly took a step forward but managed to say still. "I am not."

"Really? Then help me."

Zero looked at him with the same angry glare, his mouth opening as if he was about to speak, but no sound came, and it was clear he was trying to think of something to say. He abandoned it in the end, staring at the ground with remnants of the frustrated anger still visible on his now what seemed to be disappointed face. "I can't ok?" He spat bitterly.

'?' Blues abandoned his position all together and walked towards Zero, curiously. "Yes you can, it's not like it's complicated, just-"

"No, I can't." Zero shook his head, he wasn't as timid as he had been times before, or particularly reluctant, he was just evasive, something not nearly as severe. And he seemed to be willing to open up more willingly, where it generally took a great deal of force and screaming from Blues to draw it out. "I...I don't think I should."

- ! -

_Try to slip past his defense _

_Without granting innocence _

- ! -

"Why not?"

"Well, it's all...I mean...I..." Zero rubbed the back of his neck again and fixed his eyes past Blues at the mounds of corrupted data among other things surrounding them. "I did this.."

"Not this again."

"No, I mean, all this corrupted and infected data, I don't know what's gonna happen to me if I start messing with it, I don't know what I might do." Zero said.

Blues continued to study him, watching his form, observing his face carefully. He started to recognize more and more things about him, he remember others more distinctly, he could tell when Zero was looking for something to say to change the subject, or about to lie. He noticed how Zero's eyes always looked away before he began to stare at the ground whenever he was thinking foreboding thoughts like this. How his fingers always began to rub against uneven surfaces whether it be on a wall, floor, or an object, when ever he was anxious and didn't want to sit around anymore. Out of everything he'd observed about Zero over all the time he spent when him, that was something that stood out to him them most. Blues wondered why for a second, Zero at the very least could be described as an energetic person, (Or a manic one), such habits were to be expected and certainly wasn't something that should stand out... "And what is it you think you might do?"

"I said I don't know, for all I know I might turn into that... _thing_ again."

"Tch." Blues rolled his eyes and moved towards Zero with quick steps that were almost menacing. "The hell with that." Without warning he seized Zero's hand and walked away, pulling him sharply behind him.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What the hell are you doing!" Zero's voice carried a sharp aggravation, but was more startled then anything, and it showed on his face.

"Your gonna help me." Blues said simply, as if it was a clear cut matter, dragging him closer and closer to the masses of corrupted data.

"I-I can't." Zero shook his head almost fearfully, his expression became tense with a strained fearfulness as he began to resist. But it did no good, Blues' tugging kept him too off balance to do anything to stop himself let along the navi.

"How do you know that? You acting too much like a wuss to try." Blues scoffed. He'd heard a phrase many times in his life, Treat the disease not the symptoms, or something to that effect. Generally he'd heard it in a business related context, so he wouldn't have expected to think of it now, but it fit, because he wasn't going to try and get Zero's mind off of it, or try and convince him other wise. Why do that when he could just stop the thoughts at their source.

Zero began to grow uneasy the closer he got, he tugged back, trying to free himself. "What if I turn into that thing again, or go crazy or something?"

"You won't"

"But I-"

Blues stopped when their space ran out, and all that was let was one of the many sectors of corrupted data on this server. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, ok! I'm not gonna let you go crazy, or change into some monster, or let it hurt you, ok!" Blues growled, half shouting.

Zero started at him speechlessly, blinking questioningly, "You...You-"

- ! -

_Lay down a list of what is wrong _

_The things you've told him all along_

- ! -

"Stop stalling." Blues planted his hands on Zero's back and pushed him forward. "Shut up and go already."

Zero stumbled forward at the sharp shove and came to a near stop in front of the surge of now useless data that blocked the way like a multi-car pile up on the highway. '!' He cringed as he began losing his balance and tipping slowly forward. "Whaa!" Finally he was unable to stop himself and he fell towards the data, immediately thrusting his hands out defensively to cushion his fall. '?' Zero opened his eyes cautiously, he found he hadn't sunk completely, his arms sunk in to about his elbow and then reached more dense surfaces. He watched the broken and unintelligible streams of unmoving data, frozen completely in an uneasy tension, waiting. '?' He drew his hands back and looked down at them curiously, 'They don't look any different...' And he certainly didn't feel any different.

"See, you get it now?" Blues asked, his voices throughly annoyed as if this was one of many things he didn't want to have to deal with, and it was.

Zero slowly lifted his head and looked at Blues with a truly confused look on his face. "Um...Yeah."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The halls were so white, so clean, maybe it was simply his tired eyes playing tricks on him, but they seemed to glow with a subtitle white light. They were all similar, and they all blurred together like the small print of a book when he didn't have his glasses on. They were all the same more or less, holding small differences like trash cans, door arrangements, chairs, markings on the walls and other monotony, but eventually even those weren't enough to distinguish one glowing white corridor from the others. Eventually he'd come across one that had fire damage, varying in severity every time, those had become like place markers, if he some how got turned around, he'd be able to get a general idea of where he needed to go to get back on track.

Tadashi stopped, he paused to set the bag in his hand down on the ground against one of the white walls then shoved a hand into his pocket, digging around until he found a small cloth. With a yawn he lifted his glasses from his face and wiped the lenses absentmindedly, another anxious habit he had. "You seem to like white, all of this bright light gets blinding after a while." He lifted his hand and smiled with a small greeting.

Enzan looked up at the man acknowledging, still sitting in the same spot, against the same wall as he had been when he'd mistakenly called Tadashi. He could smell the scent of familiar foods from the bag that rested on the ground beside Tadashi's leg, it it was still hot. He cringed when he felt his stomach begin to voice it's anticipation in a loud rumble. "It wasn't my idea, I didn't have a hand in building anything." He responded with little thought.

Tadashi tucked the cloth back into his pocket and replaced the glasses on his face. "Here you go, I hope you like it." He handed the bag off to Enzan who accepted it gratefully.

Enzan nodded a small thanks and began looking curiously in to the contents, as soon as he opened the back the aroma grew exponentially stronger and he could tell what was inside with out looking. His mouth began to salivate a little, and his mind vaguely recalled Lan again. Enzan smirked a little, 'This must be what Lan feels like when he eats...' It wasn't nearly as bad as Enzan thought it would be when Tadashi showed up, it wasn't bad at all, in fact he was pretty contented that the man had come all this way, even if it took an hour and a half.

"Seems like you've been here a while." Tadashi commented, he rested his back against the wall beside Enzan and slipped his hands into his pockets, looking off into the glowing whiteness the hall seemed to fade into. Something he attributed to problems with his eye sight. "When was the last time you ate something?"

"I don't know, a day or so." Enzan shrugged. He never was one for details, he never remembered things like times, dates, objects, when he was working his memory got even worse. He forgot to do a lot of things more often then not, this wasn't the first time he forgot to eat, or sleep. "I guess I just lost track of myself."

"I feel better now that I know I'm not the only one." Tadashi smiled and laughed softly, "I must take myself too seriously. Or it's probably just me getting older." The more Tadashi became wrapped in his work, especially nearing the completion of a project, the more disjointed from the world around him he became. It started off simple, like where he'd parked the car, and tasks he was suppose to do, and eventually it became falling asleep in his office and living off of coffee. He was nearing that stage with his research on Zero, the only things that prevented it was his son being in the hospital and Zero's reminders. "That's a sure sign you'll be really successful."

"Heh." Enzan shook his head, drawing out of the bag a styrofoam container holding pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, and other things that blending together. "I hope your right, or else I'm screwed." He could only imagine where this state of mind that didn't remark details could lead. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Wasn't hard, having reached seniority at a job like mine has it's perks." Tadashi said.

"Hn..." Enzan nodded. "How's Lan doing?"

"The same more or less, he hasn't gotten worse." Tadashi blinked and looked away from the hall, his eyes were starting to hurt from staring into the white distant for to long. He glanced at Enzan with a fleeting gaze, watching the subtle, reserved concern on the boy's face. "I assume your not doing too much better." Tadashi inferred that easily enough, since this was an odd place to sit down, and by the way he held his legs, which were the general source of his problems.

"..." Enzan didn't respond, he only ate silently. After a few mouthfuls he spoke again. "Did you...find out anything that could help Megaman?"

"Well..." Tadashi's finger played softly with the cloth in his pocket and he adjusted his glasses unnecessary. "Not directly...but with a little more work, possibly. I know I'm at lest on the right track." Tadashi looked down at Enzan, fully this time. "I had no idea you were so concerned."

"Yeah well..." Enzan quickly looked away, his face regaining structure it had lost and his voice growing on a new distinctness, feeling embarrassed for ever having brought it up. "Lan would be sad, and Zero would...Who knows what would happen to him."

"Ah, for their sake." Tadashi said resoundingly.

"Yeah...exactly."

Tadashi found it amusing, and could only attribute such elusiveness to Enzan's age . "I see."

"...What about Zero?" Enzan asked reluctantly.

"Now that, _that_ is something I'm certain I can deal with." Tadashi nodded, "Given enough time."

Enzan nodded, quickly shoveling more food into his mouth. Given the news, and Tadashi's nearly excited demeanor when he spoke about it, he could barely quell the smile that was coming to his lips. He felt a dire need to say something to avert any thoughts from it, "That's good, Blues would hate to lose his new friend."

"I bet he would." Tadashi looked away with a small smirk, deciding just to go along with it.

There was a small silence that formed between them, Enzan sat eating in silence, though was too hungry to really notice. Tadashi was thinking of something, and it was plain to anyone who took the time to look. "Why did you leave, the hospital I mean."

There was a delay as Enzan finished chewing his food and swallowed. "It was staring to wear on my nerves." Enzan told him simply.

"Even still, you couldn't have tolerated it for your own sake?" He asked, his voice still holding a casual, passive tone, as if it wasn't a concern. He didn't want it to seem as if he was pushing Enzan.

"Tch, I'm fine. And besides, there was way too much work to be done."

"What about Lan?" Tadashi asked. "I could barely get him to go as it is, then you leave..."

"..." Enzan was silent, his mouth hung open silently as his searched for a response, but there was none. Maybe... he should have stayed for Lan if nothing else. 'Lan...'

"You could just be hurting yourself by pushing yourself like this." Tadashi told him. "You really should go back."

"...There's no reason." Enzan shook his head. "At lest not on my behalf. Anything that can happen to me here would have happen to me there just the same, so I might as well be here and get something done." Enzan was a little glad that Tadashi had said that, this was something he could deal with, this was something he had a valid reason for, this reason was something he could put all of his anxiety into and contend with logically. The subject of Lan wasn't, he couldn't find a reason for leaving Lan, he couldn't even convince himself, but at the expense of his safety he could.

"I don't think that's true. Not under this strain, not under this stress--"

"Nothing here could be any worse then that damn place." Enzan cut him off bitterly, his voice defensive and hostile. Just as soon as he realized himself he quickly looked off and stifled the strong emotions slipping into his words.

"You can't honestly believe that Enzan." Tadashi argued, "Whatever's wrong with you, could only be made worse here. You haven't slept or eaten since you left the hospital, you've been doing nothing but working for hours strait, one day here is probably worse then 6 at the hospital." He was concerned, which was obvious by now. "Enzan you have to go back-"

"No." The boy grunted fiercely, shaking his head stubbornly. His eyes narrowed angrily, staring off into the white halls opposite of Tadashi, his body was visibly tense, clear to any observer. "No way, don't tell me that. I'm not going back."

"...Enzan..." Tadashi didn't understand, why was he so adamant about this? Some one as rational as Enzan would be so erratic, he wasn't even listening to clear cut reason. He was acting like Zero, he wanted to believe one thing, he needed to believe one thing and Tadashi didn't know why. Was he simply restless, was he bored? "Enzan, this isn't-"

"I know I'm being stupid, ok?" Enzan cut him off, keeping his head turned away and his eyes narrowed sharply. His voice was ruff and hard, a deep sullen anger held up in it's tones, Enzan drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs, hugging them tightly to his chest so tensely he trembled slightly. "I know that!" He yelled, his voice jumped sharply, and for that moment Tadashi could hear the trembling in his words as well. "But you don't get it."

- ! -

_And pray to God he hears you _

_And pray to God he hears you _

- ! -

"..." Tadashi was silent, knowing that if Enzan was going to tell him, he was going to tell him on his own or not at all. Any coaxing would only aggravate him farther, then there was no chance he'd say anything then.

"...I...don't know what's gonna happen to me..." Enzan looked up slightly, a light of realization in his eyes, then he shook his head. "I mean, I do know what's gonna happen to me, that's the problem." He sounded frustrated, and he was, which was why he was so tense. "My legs are halfway gone and theres a good chance the rest of me is going to be shot to hell right after. No body can stop it! So there's no way in hell I'm gonna just sit around and rot, if I'm gonna be...If I'm gonna..." His life was spiraling out of control, out of his hands, and he was afraid, truly afraid. He needed to feel that he had a grip on something, anything. He needed to feel some since of control, so something could be rational, something could be safe.

Tadashi opened his mouth to speak, but he stalled and eventually remained silent. He could have said something, but someone like Enzan would have probably just found it patronizing.

Ok, he'd admit it, at lest for now. He was scared, Enzan decided, he wasn't just afraid of becoming permanently paralyzed, he was afraid of what life would be like afterwords. Not just that he would be piratically immobile, and that his life as he knew it would be completely different, it was the thought of being helpless, it was the thought of every one...of everyone... Enzan shook his head and dispelled the thoughts, he couldn't think about it, he pushed it aside and severed the rush of even stronger emotions off at their source. "I'm gonna do everything I can before then."

"If...it does happen and you can't walk anymore, do you really think you wont be able to work anymore?" Tadashi asked, "Do you really think you won't be able to do anything anymore? Because only one thing will really change."

"_Everything_ will change." Enzan retorted curtly, a bitterness seeped into his voice. "They told me it's not just eating away muscle anymore, it's starting to attack nerve endings. Everything's starting to fill up with puss, and it's gonna kept going till there's nothing left. Even if they do find away, by then it'll probably be too late. "

"..." Tadashi readjusted his glasses and returned his hands into his pockets. "I take it that your father doesn't know about what's happening to you."

"Tch." That was a definite no.

"..."

"It's...It's already going...everything is just getting away from me." Control, all of his fears steamed from them. No, he wasn't really afraid of being paralyzed, he was afraid of losing control over his legs, he was afraid of losing control over what he could do and where he could go, he was afraid he couldn't control how people thought about him, he couldn't control how they treated him, he couldn't control anything. He'd been fighting for it all of his life, and just as he'd finally got his own shot at business, he finally got a chance to control definitely where his life went...An unstoppable virus spawned, his island blew up, Lan and himself got hurt, anything could happen to his navi's best friend at any moment, and he was on the verge of losing his ability to walk. Did Tadashi understand this? Could he possibly understand that his life was slipping through his fingers like water and no matter how hard he tried to grasp it, no matter how much he tightened his grip by leaving the hospital, but coming back here, by working his ass off, it still was slipping through.

"Enzan." Tadashi sighed. How could he argue with him? Enzan was a kid that thought his life would be over in the next few weeks, though Tadashi himself could handle the possibility to being paralyzed from the waist down, but for someone as young as Enzan it was a life ending event. What could say to that? There was nothing he could possibly tell him that would ease those anxious feelings, and if he tried he'd only make things worse. Enzan liked to do things on his own, he liked to build up something with out any help from anyone. And now he figured at this rate he'd be nothing more then a weak, helpless mass. He wasn't even holding out for the very real hope that something could be done about this. There was nothing he really could do for Enzan. "At lest try and get some rest then."

"..."

"And..." Tadashi paused, maybe he could say something. "I know...everything feels hectic right now, every thing's so crazy you probably don't know which way is up. I know you feel like your life's being shot to hell and every thing's so out of place that you can't do anything it. Believe me, I do. But it's not." Tadashi pushed his glasses up with his fingers and looked away from the side of the hall he'd been watching too long. "These are the time when every thing's the clearest, if you calm down and pay attention, you can see everything better then you've ever seen them before."

"...What do you mean? What happened to you."

"Well, when I was around your age..." Tadashi's voice trailed off, and he stared off with sullen gaze, as if he was watching something strongly unpleasant play out before his eyes. After a few, silent seconds he lowered his head and his focus returned, his expression holding much less light then it had before the silence. "Nevermind, it's not important. Just remember to lift your head and look around."

"But...how is that suppose to help me?" Enzan asked, rather curtly.

"Well...maybe if your able to see things with a clearer prospective, you can get a handle on things and you won't feel so helpless...not that your helpless or anything.

Enzan didn't look up when he heard Tadashi push off of the wall and began walking away with slow steps. "...Thanks. "

"No problem."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Why is this so hard..." Zero groaned softly, his body had developed a dull ache from an hour and a half of contentiously and dutifully digging through the corrupted data, side by side with Blues, searching for anything usable. Blues had shown him what to do, and what to look for exactly, and so far Zero had found a lot of examples of what they couldn't use, nothing they could.

"What did you expect?" Blues' voice fluctuated with strain as he slipped his hand into the wall of still data and began prying it apart. Generally data was distinct, sharp, like the floor, or a wall, or any number of structures, but when the data was corrupted it wasn't nearly as sharply, it bulged and protruded in places, it cracked and was much weaker. Weak enough for Blues to cut and pry and force it apart. "Corrupted or not, data's still data."

It became more dense the deeper they dug. "Why do we have to throw all this stuff away? I mean, can't you do something with it?" Zero drew his sword back and plunged it into the corrupted blockage, then he planted his foot on to the wall and began trying to pull pieces of it apart.

"No, you can't." He said simply and distractedly, like one speaking to a small child asking a string of questions, and they had stop paying attention completely. Blues was calm, his mind was lost in his task and felt as if he was moving solely on muscle memory, he was so calm that it was almost like being asleep

"Too bad." Zero shook his head disappointedly, "And your sure we can't use any of it, cause all of it doesn't look that bad to me." As hard as this was, Zero felt good, he had more work then he could handle to deal with so he wasn't bored. And he'd never seen Blues like this, he was so focused it was like watching him sleep walk, it wasn't bad, it was just different then his usual experience.

"What does that mean?" Blues asked more out of habit then out of a curiosity to know, he'd resolved hours ago to stop trying to understand Zero, for all of his idiotic simplicity, the inner workings of his mind was something too complicated to understand. And there was always something new.

"I mean, some of it I understand, so I thought that maybe you could do something with it." Zero set his sword aside and slipped his fingers into the craves that had just been created. With all his strength he tried to pry it open farther apart. 'Damn this is hard!'

Blues paused and lifted his head, looking over at Zero curiously."What do you mean? It's all the same thing."

"Nah, there's some stuff that's different." Zero shook his head, pointing out something among the dense wreckage that looked more like a cave in the anything. "A lot of it's the same and I can't really read it, but some stuff like that looks different."

"..." Blues leaned over and looked at it closely, and on it's inspection he found Zero was right, it was different. "That's stuff left over from the virus." Blues have mumbled, it was mixed in among the corrupted data, fragments from what once was infected, now corrupted itself, to broken and fragmented to have any affect at all. Interesting.

"Oh...that's it."

Blues immediately looked back at Zero, his eyes holding a harsh scrutiny that made Zero nervous. "Your not gonna start acting weired and annoy me are you?"

Zero lifted his hands concealingly and shook his head quickly. "No..."

Blues gave him a once over look, and then went back to working. Continuing on their pace for about 30 minutes or so, until finally Zero drove his sword into the mass of corrupted data far enough for it to support itself and fell backwards on to the ground, heaving in deep breaths. "I gotta stop." He exclaimed, resting one hand over his pounding heart.

"Your seriously tired?" Blues folded his arms and looked down at him with his usual indifference.

"Don't look at me like that, it's not my fault!" Zero hunched over a bit, clinching his armor tighter. He had tried to keep going, but as time progressed he started to feel worse and worse, and it became harder and harder to preform the strenuous work. The deeper he went, the worse it became, first it was simply a small headache, then light started to make it worse, and sound, until it became a hard pounding that sent shockwaves through his body."I don't feel too good...Besides, I don't think I'm strong enough to go deeper." Zero clinched his head and cringed, Zero didn't know what nausea felt like, but he had no doubt it was something like this.

"What's wrong?"Blues sat down beside him and immediately began sizing him up. He hated this! Every time, every single time there was anything that wasn't right with Zero he began feeling this worry, and his thoughts fixed on him as if he was a puzzle contentiously taunting him, intriguing something deep inside of him that he never knew he had to the point where it became almost panicked, near-obsessional for the duration of the worried feelings. Here he went down this familiar track, compulsively trying trying to fathom what could be wrong, and what could be done to stop it.

Zero looked back at him cautiously, his eyes carefully searching Blues', debating with himself. "I don't know, my eyes are kinda blurry and I'm seeing double, my head is killing me. I don't know what's wrong but I'm hot and itchy all over." He said, carefully lowering his guard where he normally would have been inclined to lie and become evasive. Before he had been worried that Blues would start seeing him in a certain light, that he would become somehow afraid, and he felt a crushing shame. Now he felt a little safer, a little more trusting since Blues made it clear that he wouldn't react as he had expected, and demonstrated it a few times already. Though, he still felt a deep shame that made him reluctant, he felt like he could somehow trust Blues. "I'll be alright...I just need to catch my breath, that's all."

- ! -

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend _

_Somewhere along in the bitterness _

_And I would have stayed up with you all night _

_Had I known how to save a life_

- ! -

Blues reached over and gave Zero's forehead a sharp jab with his finger, he could feel the beginnings of sweat forming on his skin, and saw the first drop stream down from his hair underneath his helmet. "If your that hot, why don't you take off some of that armor."

"I'm not _wearing_ anything under the armor."

Blues sighed and shook his head,"Of course your not..."He muttered half sarcastically, as if he should have been expecting this. "Then at lest take off the helmet."

"Nah, I'm alright." Zero shook his head timidly.

Blues rolled his eyes, 'Someone as invasive as you doesn't get to be defensive.' When Zero had said that, Blues' motives shifted from something for Zero, to satisfying something that felt intimately close to concern. "Stop being so scared and take the damn thing off." He grunted.

"It's fine." Zero defensed.

Though Blues knew if it really was fine then Zero would have just taken the helmet off and avoided a needless argument...he really was starting to understand Zero, much to his dismay. "Nothing's ever fine with you." Blues reached over swiftly and snatched the helmet from Zero's head before the half-navi had a chance to hinder him.

"!" Zero immediately flinched and looked quickly over at Blues, his face completely startled and his body frozen with an inane sense of fright and dread for a longer time then he would have liked to admit. "..." He was speechless, his eyes shifting nervously up to his forehead in a futile attempt to see what lay up there, then back to Blues with an uneasy anxiousness.

Blues looked inside the helmet absentmindedly, and found nothing but a small bit of sweat lining the inside. He became a bit curious when he looked up and saw the look on Zero's face, and he needed only glance up a bit higher to where the golden strands of hair began and saw a large, gaping scar of healed over flesh where he'd been bleeding before. He lifted his finger and ran over the spot with a soft stroke, he could feel Zero shutter and saw his face cringe, not out of pain but from some unknown fear. 'Your always so scared...' "Why are you acting like that? It's not even that bad." Blues snorted.

'Huh?' Zero wished he could see it more the ever, he had no idea what was up now. "I...Uh..." He nearly blushed, Blues had some how made him feel more embarrassed then afraid and ashamed. He had always felt that he wasn't right, that everything about him was wrong, and when something strange, something that wasn't right, some oddity appeared on the outside, that feeling became a hundred times worse. He always panicked, he always became afraid, he always felt this immense shame, so he always hid as much as he could, and avoided anything that would expose them. But...with Blues...

"Take a rest." Blues climbed to his feet and began walking back absentmindedly toward the wall they were digging through, "We can start again when your ready." He called back, looking over the wall curiously, examining it closely for the first time.

He never had to hide anything with Blues, even though he wanted to, even though he was always so afraid that Blues would start thinking of him strangely, that he would see him as he himself saw, and he never did. A part of him was staring to believe that Blues never would no matter what strange things happened to him, no matter how bad everything became, despite the fact a much larger part of him was sure that Blues would eventually start to hate him, just as a navi if nothing else. "...Yeah, ok..." Zero nodded gratefully, he crossed his legs and planted one hand on his knees for support. He held a hand against his chest though he couldn't feel it through his armor, taking in breathes that contentiously became deeper and more labored. After a moment he began to feel uncomfortable in his own body, and the itching grew more intense as the sweat began seeping through every pour of his skin. 'It's not getting better...'

Blues examined the wall, thinking that it looked more like a hardened crust containing a mix of data then everything. When he looked closely enough, he could still distinguish the parts that were infected, not as easily as Zero but... 'Wait...' Blues looked back over his shoulder at Zero, listening to his heavy breathes, watching his back expand and contract, his shoulders rise and fall with each gasp. He felt a pang at the thought, an uneasy feeling bubbling up in the pit of his stomach and swelling in his chest. 'Maybe that's happening because of the infected data?' He thought. He was starting to feel worse and worse about this, Zero had been so afraid that something was going to happen to him, and he promised him that nothing would... 'Damn, he's gonna blame me for this.' No, Zero wouldn't, but he still felt guilty, he still felt uneasy, he still felt worried...

Zero closed his eyes and tried to contemplate every part of his body, and if he concentrated hard enough, he found that he could felt a pressure on the side of his lungs, as if some force had struck it and it collapsed under the pressure. The growing pain from his head that seemed to have traversed over his entire being made it hard to distinguish anything else underneath it. It became especially strong in his back, the pressure made him feel as if something was trying to rip through his skin. '?' A tug came softly from his shoulder, "Huh?" Zero lifted his head questioningly, finding Blues was holding his shoulder, looking down at him expectantly. "What?"

Blues couldn't seem to look him in the eyes, feeling uncomfortable being completely conscious of how worried he was, and even more uncomfortable showing it, in any form. This was why he hated Zero! "Any better?" He asked, an embarrassment burning in him, his pride screaming at him to relent this, that putting himself out like this was dangerous, that everything he said in did would be used against him eventually, it was better to be defensive. Speaking and acting like this felt so unnatural that the ever cautious and alert part of him ached to stop, but even that didn't hinder him.

"..." Zero still didn't respond immediately, he didn't feel right, and he'd known soon enough that this was probably was something related the many things wrong with him. Deeply and subtly he felt like he was being repulsed, like those times he'd became sleepy and was surrounded by nothing but static, he felt as if he was being pushed out of his body, only conscious enough to feel it, it made him visibly fearful. He wanted to hide, to leave so Blues wouldn't see him like this, he felt like he was transforming into a horrible monster. "... No." So this was what it really felt like to be slowly dissolved, to be overtaken and phased out of existence, the wrong side of him was starting to win.

"..." Blues was tormented by the sight of Zero like this, he didn't even know what was wrong but he knew it must have been painful for for him. 'I've never seen anyone sweat like that...' "Lift up your arms." He said commandingly.

"Wha? Why?"

"Your hot aren't you?" Blues asked gruffly, and Zero nodded, "Then lift of your arms."

Zero silently complied, feeling Blues grab on to the armor around his chest and began pulling it upward, Zero shifted as necessary to ease the removal. The sweat combined with the tightness made it cling slightly, there was an audible release as the last bit of the armor was lifted from his skin, and immediately a burst of much cooler air surrounded his heated, damp, bare chest and back. It felt so good...a bit of relief was audible on Zero's face. But he still felt the pounding headache, and his vision remained obscure.

Blues set the chest plate carefully aside next to Zero's helmet. "Any better?" He asked, his voice was unusually quiet, unsure, he clearly didn't know what he was doing, or what he should do, or what he should say, and even if he did he was so embarrassed he might not have said it at all. He was trying to retain some of his pride here, by remaining as indifferent, calm and as uncaring as possible, though he got the feeling it wasn't doing that well.

"...A little." Zero nodded. He closed his eyes and dropped his head, both hands clinching his forehead so tightly his fingers trembled and became pale.

'Zero...' Blues felt worse, when he said that he wouldn't let anything happen to Zero, he was just saying that so he could get over his fear...right? He himself had to have known he wasn't serious.. so why did he feel that way, why did he feel like he had done something wrong by this... It felt like...failure... Blues stood idle, his body wanting to do one thing and his mind was too busy thinking to pay attention, finally he relented to his body, he sat down beside Zero and rested his hand on his shoulder, shaking him lightly to regain his attention. "What's wrong with you?"

Zero lifted his head and looked up at Blues, "I don't know...My head feels like it's splitting apart, and every thing's distorted, I'm still seeing two of everything.." Zero said...and then his expression became sullen and his eyes depressed, the thoughts in his mind played out in silence on his face. "I feel like something is trying to bust out of me or something." He smiled weakly, managing to laugh softly. "With my luck it'll be some horrible monster..."

"Baka, nothing could be worse then you are already." Blues snorted callously, all the while he was he was studying Zero with a meticulous scrutiny, searching for something recognizable that he could handle. "You could be so useful if you put the effort you put into thinking like that, into something helpful."

Zero smirked. "Heh, maybe..."

The twinging pang in his stomach became worse, Blues knew that whenever Zero didn't get angry that he'd taken a shot at him, whenever he simply just relented and gave that smile. He knew where Zero's thoughts were, and he didn't want Zero's mind to go to that place, he'd spent a lot of time and effort to stop him from thinking like that. "Your not stupid enough to believe that somethings actually coming coming out of you are you?" A hostile, defensive, prideful concern.

"Well, not exactly like that." Zero shook his head slowly, careful not to make the pulsing headache worse then it already was. He had to restrain himself from not scratching every reachable surface of his body, but the heat was starting to die down, the sweat cooling on his skin, and slowly but surly it took the itching with it. "But...something...No, I don't wanna think about it." He abruptly decided, 'Blues would just get mad at me...' "I don't wanna think about it." A fearful recoil back into safer topics.

"Then don't." Blues said simply.

"It's not that easy." Zero told him. "I can't just turn it off..."

"Then think of something else."

"Like what?"

- ! -

_As he begins to raise his voice _

_You lower yours and grant him one last choice _

_Drive until you lose the road _

_Or break with the ones you've followed_

- ! -

Alright, Blues decided silently, he could do that, how hard could it be to get someone to think about something else?...He was curious about something, though he wasn't sure if he should... "Why don't you tell me what your doing with Tadashi?" An absentminded inquiry

'That's not much better.' Zero sighed to himself, but he'd tell Blues anyway, simply because the navi wanted to know. It wasn't often that he got to talk to Blues like this, in fact he wasn't sure it had ever happened. So just for that reason he'd do it. "Not much too it really, he was studying Megaman, now he's studying me." Following Blues' lead.

"What's he trying to do?"

"Fix both of us."

"Well, did he find anything? Is he close at all?" Blues found himself taking a particular interest, and he felt foolish for how strongly it captivated him.

"I'm not sure what he found." Zero's voice grew softer and softer until it was nothing but a whimper, his clinched his eyes shut again with a hiss of pain, the light felt as though it shined a burning path into the center of his head. "..." The pounding headache became a constant throb that scattered his senses. "Nh..." A short, sharp moan slipped out that was stifled just as quickly as it had come. "But I think he found...one thing...that he could use." A physically weak, and mentally reluctant statement.

Blues inanely tried to maintain the initial feelings and impressions he had of Zero in any situation, rather then try to change them. To him Zero was a hyper, annoying idiot, and no matter how deeply he saw into him, that was all he'd be, because it was just easier, simpler that way. But it was getting harder and harder as time went on, what things he'd set his mind on, those indifferent, aggravated feelings were changing into something completely new to him, something strong. He didn't like it, he didn't like feeling this strongly either way about anyone, maybe he was scared, because the nervous and every aspect of his mind screaming danger felt just like fear. "What's that?" Distracted curiosity.

Zero took in a deep breath, his words were normalized this time."He's not telling me about it, but I think he might have found something he can use against me."

"What do you mean use against you?" A sharp birth of concern.

"In case I lose my self or something." Zero said. "So you can stop me." An throwing the subject into a much wider field.

"What the hell." Blues growled, feeling an annoyed anger rising up inside of him. He was amazed at how easily he said it, as it was nothing, as if he was nothing."Stop saying that, your not gonna do anything." An aggravated, forceful attempt to dissuade.

"Blues..." Zero's voice trailed off , his hand drifted up with out thought and clinched his chest, pressing against his pounding heart, he could feel the rapid rise and fall from his harsh breathing. "Seriously, I wasn't so sure about it..." His words were broken up by his gasps for air, "But, the way I feel now...I know it's gonna happen..." A labored admission devoid of any feelings of self- value.

Zero fell on to his back, rolled immediately to his side and curled into a ball, holding his head like an injured child trying to nurse his wound.

Blues didn't want to voice his concern, he didn't want to ask if Zero was alright, since he clearly wasn't, he didn't want to ask what he could do because the was nothing really. He hated that he was idle while Zero was in such pain, the problem was with him, so there was no way Blues could hope to stop it. "Stupid Baka." Blues leaned over Zero, had he not been so distracted, had he been thinking unclouded thoughts, he would have realized his actions, how close he was getting, and everything he did thereafter, and never would have done them. Blues grabbed Zero's shoulders and rolled him on to his back. "You've given up already, no, forget that, you'd actually have had to have been fighting once to give up." He snorted. Softly he took each one of Zero's wrist and pried his hands away from his head. "Didn't I tell you I wouldn't let anything happen to you." His pride part of him began to stand aside, if only for a moment, even if he didn't realize it.

Zero forced his eyes open, and his vision was greeted by the blurry image of Blues, half fading into the light around him. He squinted and strained his eyes, sharpening the world a bit. He smiled weakly, 'Blues...' He always looked up to Blues in some sense, like a child looking up to an older brother. He was drawn toward him, his completely callous demeanor, and contrastingly completely involved anger. Blues acted completely different towards him, different then anyone else, but yet, he always felt this sense of... well, he didn't know what it was, but it was warm and it made him feel as though he could always come back. He felt more then anything else that Blues was his friend, even as angry as they made each other most of time. His voice was softer and weaker then ever. "I guess it's official now." A weak teasing, and the prelude to a final resolution.

Blues was anxious, more then ever, a considerable amount of time had passed and whatever this was had lasted far longer then any other strange thing that had happened to Zero before. Maybe there was a little more to this then he'd realized, maybe something was happening to Zero... An uneasy tension came into his form, almost as if he was anticipating something to happen and was ready to react. 'Damnit Zero.' It made him angry, and he hated Zero for causing him to feel like this. "What's official?" Questioning.

"We must be friends now." Zero smirked. "Cause when I'm with you...I don't have to pretend like nothing's wrong, like I'm fine, like every thing's together, I can just be my self... " The final resolution and consummation of friendship. Yeah...maybe he was starting to believe Blues when he said he wouldn't let anything happen to him, besides Tadashi, Blues was the only person that could make him believe something like this...He felt a an assurance in those words that made him thankful, but guilty at the same time, he couldn't place that burden on them. Something was going to happen to him, how much trouble would it be for them, how much would they have to put in this because they didn't just destroy him when they had the chance? How much pain, trouble and effort would he cause them? He couldn't...

"..." 'Zero...' Blues felt the familiar embarrassment return, and he lifted his head and looked away. For a moment he forgot his tension and could only think about what had just been said to him, awkwardly trying to figure out what he could do next. Why did he have to go and say something like that? He didn't know how to respond to that..It was all natural, habitual to him, it seemed normal to place blame upon others when something incomprehensible created an awkward, uncomfortable turmoil befell him. Zero, often suffering from depression, wasn't susceptible to the same error. Blues always repelled, and Zero always retreated. But Zero retreated less and less now, and Blues pushed less and less, and now this had happened, and Blues, bewildered, had no idea how to deal with it. It seemed he wouldn't have to though, just as quickly as Zero had brought his mind to the subject, the half-navi changed it. "Zero?"

Zero was silent, his eyes wide and searching though he wasn't searching his surroundings, he was searching his self. A glow, a pang in his chest, a shudder, a fullness of breath, a flutter of the heart, a shiver down his back, his entire body trembling. He searched for the cause, for some source, but he could find nothing save himself, it was as if his entire body was trying to push him out, trying to separate in some way. It was a soul wrenching pain, and he could barely keep from crying out in agony, "Damnit..." He mumbled softly, he rolled over out of Blues' grasp and curled into an even tighter ball. He shouted, his voice taunt and strained with the pain. "I can't... I can't take it!" A breaking point.

"Hey, hold on..." Blues slipped his arm around Zero's back and pulled him up into sitting position, but Zero was so disoriented that he couldn't keep his balance and immediately tumbled backwards. "!" Blues threw his arms around him and pulled him upright again, holding on to him securely. "Can you hold your self up?" He asked. A heart crushing worry.

The pain developed from where it centered in just his head until it had spread throughout his entire body, a hard pressure pushing against everything that seemed as if it would explode. "Goddamnt! Stop messing with me and just kill me already!" He screamed, and his body seemed to cry out in unison. Every fiber of his muscles, every thread of his being was weak, tired and longed to simply die, his body wanted to sleep and never wake up and never feel the pain of his existence again. He'd never slept before, and by no means should he have known what it felt like, but his body seemed to know on it's own and sought it out. He closed his eyes and was silent, just sleep and never wake up...

"Zero!" Blues shouted, Zero was quiet, his face became still even while his body trembled, and he could feel the heat that had once covered him starting to slip away. Ok, he was scared now, he'd admit, hell he'd scream it if it would help. "Hey! Get up! Your not gonna die!" He yelled, shaking him roughly. "Zero!" A desperate pleading cry.

It was too easy, he was halfway there, halfway away from the pain, halfway away from this depressing, tormented existence. He didn't know why this happened now, it was as if he was being given a one time and one time only way out, one last final agreement between both sides of him. It was almost ominous when Zero thought about it, the calm before the storm, "...It's better to just end it now." He decided, unaware that he was speaking aloud. "Before it gets worse..." Lost of self-preservation instinct.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Blues growled angrily. Zero sounded so dazed and distant, like he was only talking in his sleep, which was what he was afraid of "Stop it!" Pleading.

Blues...he was so far away, his voice was a distant echo. Zero was sinking, drifting in a sea of darkness, falling deeper and deeper, farther and farther from Blues "This is it." He thought, or spoke rather. "I've been waiting for this moment for all my life..." The moment when his existence would end. "Something...coming...really...bad...should just go...now..." His words became slurred and his body more limp "..." Ominous silence.

"Hey! Listen to me!" Blues screamed, "Damnit! Wake up! You don't have to die, stop being so stupid!"

Zero could feel his body jarring sharply and Blues voice, as softly as it was. "Blues...I'm sorry...I caused you...so much trouble..." He thought to himself, still mumbling in that weak voice.

"No, no, you didn't!" Blues was sure he should have remembered every bit of annoyment Zero had incited, every bit of frustration and anger, but for some reason, right now it slipped his mind. "Just get up! Your strong, I've seen you, you can fight this! Damnit just get up!" Strange things began to happen to him, he could feel his heart pounding, he could hear it in his ears, he started sweating nervously, and his mind raced anxiously. So this was what it was like, to be truly afraid.

" I'm...too much...I'll..." Zero's breathing began to slow drastically.

"!" Blues placed one hand on Zero's chest, he could feel the heartbeats growing harder, but the pace slowing, almost as if it was suffocating and struggling. "Zero stop it! Baka! Your the only person who could will themselves into dieing!" He growled in anger. He hated Zero right now, more then he ever had. He hated him for doing this, he hated him for not listening, he hated him for being weak and giving up, he hated him for forcing his way into his life and just dying when he was finally starting to get used to him!

"I'll..cause too much...I'll hurt you...like I...hurt...Megaman." Darkness... eternal darkness, swallowing his body, his mind, and his sanity. He let it with his blessing, and hoped he'd make a good meal for it.

Blues shook his head, and felt silly knowing Zero couldn't see it. The heat was completely gone from Zero now, his skin was cold, and Blues awkwardly stripped off his helmet and removed his own chest plate, pulling Zero closer in an awkward embraces,placing his bare skin against Zero's. He had plenty of heat to spare now. "Not if you don't let your self! Not if you fight like I know you can! Damnit I fought you before, I know how strong you are. Your not gonna do anything unless you don't want too." ... The opposite of love...it couldn't be hate, it had to be emotionlessness, indifference, not feeling anything at all. This hate for Zero was so strong, so passionate, so enthralling and all consuming. It filled him with an energy, it drew him towards Zero in a burning, physical way, although that physical way, that contact, generally was forceful. Maybe there really was a thin line between love and hate, because this was exactly how he'd heard love to be.

"I don't...wanna...hurt Blues..." This sea, it grew deeper and deeper, and the pressure grew heavier and heavier until he couldn't move his body. No air, he couldn't breath...he had no idea drowning took so long.

Blues pressed his palm harder against Zero's chest, feeling the struggling heart progress farther toward death with each moment. "You stupid bastard! What do you think your doing right now! Your gonna hurt everybody more dead then you ever could alive!" What had happened to his pride? His ever foolish pride that had kept him afloat, wasn't it suppose to protect him from these things, wasn't it suppose to make him indifferent to them so they wouldn't hurt so much? Where was his pride when he needed it, his pride was like a huge wall, and for everything said about walls the fact remained that you can't get hurt through walls.

Zero's breathing became so slow that after each breath Blues wasn't sure another would come after it. " I...I... Mon...ster."

His anger boiled over, the pang in his chest became like a dagger and he felt his throat choking. "You son of a bitch! Stop saying that!" He yelled, giving Zero another jolting shake, hard enough that he was sure it would have hurt his head. He felt his eyes begin to moisten and then burn, Zero became blurry, obscure, increasingly fading from his vision. "Your not a monster! Your the only person stupid enough to think that! Your the only one that can't see that your the...your the..." Sensitive words tapered off by choking tears.

Zero's voice became a breathless whisper, Blues had lean close to his mouth to hear it. "...horrible...Mon...ster. Shouldn't...live."

Blues shook his head with a furious yell, blinking back the tears. His clinched fist raised and pounded into Zero's face with a swift and ferocious blow. "Stop saying that! Stop saying that! Your not a monster! Ok! You aren't a monster!" He never realized how much he hated that, in fact he never realized a lot of things. He never realized that he hated when Zero said things like that about himself, maybe it was because he thought more highly of Zero then a glorified idiot. It surprised him, he'd spent so much time saying it that he actually believed it, or at least thought he did. "Wake up! Wake up!" A prideless plea.

"...Hu..rts...No...mor..e...hu...rt." So this was what it felt like to die. It felt...good...he didn't feel depressed anymore, it didn't hurt anymore, the tearing conflicted in his mind and heart was quiet...finally. He wanted this, god he wanted this so badly...

"Zero!" Blues shouted calling out to him and hoping he could still hear him. His fist trembled at his side and he sent another sharp blow to the side of Zero's face, with no response "Damnit! Life is pain! Of course it hurts! You don't give up! You just get used it! Stop being so weak!" A sad, furious outcry.

Blues heard Zero take in a deep breath and his chest rose against his hand, higher then it had ever before, it was a hard gasp. Then all at once he expelled the air, it was as if a candle had been blown out, the half-navi faded completely. "..." Blues held on, his arms still wrapped tightly around Zero, holding him upright, his hand pressing against his bare chest so hard his fingers almost drew blood. Zero was still, and Blues trembled. "Zero!" Love sounds a lot like hate. Hate is strong, it's hot and hard, it's passionate, it's physical, it's hurt...So, what's it like to be in love?

Zero was cold now, unmoving, his body was pale and his heart twitched as if it was shriveling up in his chest.

Some say theres a thin line between love and hate, and if that much is true, love is over rated, because hate hurts. The forming moisture blurred Blues' vision until he couldn't see Zero at all anymore, and that's when it struck him, he was actually crying. Blues' fingers tightened around Zero's chest and felt the last, small beats of his heart begin to fade. "You bastard..." His voice was soft, low. "Your not a monster, but you never did listen to me, you were always too stubborn to listen to me! You know how annoying that is...that...was..." Blues dropped his head and he felt the first tear fall, and he felt embarrassed though no one else was here. His pride picked an interesting time to resurface. "I didn't hate you, I wasn't afraid of you, and I don't want you to die, ok? Maybe now you'll finally listen to me Eh Baka?" It hurt, oh god it hurt. His chest swelled and squeezed his heart, making it heard to breath, he was panting and gasping for air. He'd never felt anything like this, what pain could match this, pain that tore through his body, his mind, his soal. He felt like he'd been stabbed and would fall apart any second now, if only he could breathe... "You said you didn't wanna hurt anybody." Blues could almost laugh at himself, a part of him began to stand aside, almost as if he was standing about himself watching with awe and humor at what he was now. "Well, I don't know how you did it, I don't know where you managed to hit me, but it hurts."

He really had stood aside from himself, he must have he reasoned, because without a second thought he pulled Zero close to him and hugged him as tightly as he could. His body moved of it's own accord, hoping to feel Zero, feel the last bits of life and relish in it before it drifted away completely, only there was nothing but a cold and lifeless form. A few stray tears slipped out of his eyes and ran down Zero's back, his head was spinning, everything he did after Zero died felt like a dream, so he couldn't be held responsible for holding him like this, no, he couldn't be held responsible for crying, hell, it might have all just been a dream... "Idiot! You fucking Idiot! I hate you!" He shouted, his entire body convulsed violently as he broke down and sobbed with a harsh fury. "I hate you! I hate you ! I hate you..." Blues clinched him tighter, "I...hate ...you..."

Maybe there really was a thin line between love and hate.

- ! -

_He will do one of two things _

_He will admit to everything _

_Or he'll say he's just not the same _

_And you'll begin to wonder why you came _

- ! -

_Wet...? Wet..._ Warm... too...it was warm... He was so close to the darkness, to sleep to rest... But it was cold there, it wasn't as warm. And faintly he could hear Blues' voice, to light it was nearly nothing , but it was so quiet here that there was nothing else to hear anyway. He wanted to sleep but...what was that warmth? He'd never felt anything like it...And what was that wetness, and...Blues...

"..." Blues' mouth fell open and he stared down at Zero almost frozen, unable to move, unable to think, for that moment he existed only to feel this faint sensation until he was sure. 'What...is that...?' He felt the heat being drawn away from his skin, then a cool burst flooded on to his chest, "Z-Zero..." It startled him at first, enough to make him flinch. He could feel Zero's chest rise sharply and pressed against his own, he could hear Zero taking in air sharply, he could hear him gasp harshly as he began to breath again. He could feel his heart jump start from some unknown stimuli, it began to pound so hard and suddenly that it couldn't have possibly have been getting any air at all. "He's...alive?" Blues almost did start to think he was dreaming, maybe he was hallucinating? He because uncertain of Zero's reality until he felt the deathly cold form begin to tremble again.

A smile forced it's way on to his face, he couldn't help himself, there was an immense relief that washed over him, the suffocating force was gone and suddenly he could breath again, leaving him gasping for air himself. "Zero!" He felt again how lifelessly frozen Zero was, so he held him there, it wasn't possible to do so any tighter then he already was.

! -! - !

! -! - !

It was 20 minutes before he felt Zero begin to feel warm again. The gasping breaths became calm and slow, the color returned to his skin, and he was still in Blue's arms. "..." Silently, Zero's sleepy blue eyes cracked open and closed again when it was struck with lights brighter then anything he'd ever seen. Almost immediately afterwords he comprehended the rest of his body and felt a dull ache of soreness, in the old headache's place a new pain now resided as his brain receded from his skull as if he'd just finished a night of hard drinking. His body was still cold, the dull chill clung to him. He felt like hell. 'Aw...' He squinted again when the lights weren't as harsh on him and looked around with new eyes.

He found himself sitting in Blues' lap, Blues' arms wrapped around his chest and stomach, he could feel the warmth of Blues' bare chest pressed against his back and realized this must have been the warmth that he'd felt, it was.. good. Even more notably Blues' head was resting against his shoulder as the navi slept uneasily. Zero tried to open his mouth and speak, but a sharp pain made itself suddenly known, this time he couldn't stop himself from wincing and letting out a soft moan of pain. "Un..."

Almost immediately after he made the sound, Blues' body stiffened fast enough to make Zero flinch and he sat up strait, his eyes shifting around almost if in confusion, then settled in down on Zero. "Zero?" He was speechless for a moment, sitting there with his an uneasy, tense expression on his face, uncertain of what he should do or say. He felt this disbelief that was like a haze, he wasn't sure if this was real, or just a dream giving him something he never wanted so badly in his life, maybe this was just a short reprieve from the pain. "Are you alright?" He instinctively asked.

"Everything...hurts..." He forced out weakly, with each movement he became more and more dull to the pain in his throat. "And...I'm...cold...really cold."

He felt Zero shifted slightly in his grasp and he remembered that he was still holding on to him. He'd been doing it for so long that he'd forgotten. '!' There was this strange need in his embrace when Zero was unconscious, but now he began to withdraw his arms slowly with embarrassment for having held him. "I was just-"

Zero shuttered when he felt the heat retreating from him, and without the stable arms and Blues' body to keep him from falling to the ground he quickly found out just how weak he was right now. His body began to faultier and he struggled to hold himself upright. "No...please." he whimpered, not wanting Blues to leave him alone. He felt the crushing sense of emptiness return to him as if it had never left at all, and an atmospheric sadness returned to him. But with Blues close to him he at lest felt a little better, he felt safe, and there were no odd thoughts.

Blues was reluctant to remain, every second an awkward uneasiness burned in him being so close to a conscious and partially lucid Zero, holding him like this. But he was calm and he endured it, possibly from the relief he felt now that Zero was alive again. "Hn..." Still, in his mind he was scrambling to find something he could do to help him, remembering what he'd said about pain earlier. Maybe he could- '?' Blues looked down questioningly, watching as Zero dropped his head and began crying, completely silent except for the sniffles that crept through his tightly clinched lips every so often. "Zero?" Blues grew taunt, again, he didn't know how to deal with this, he didn't know what to say, what to do.

Zero held tightly onto Blues' arms, feeling unusually open and vulnerable. Doing his best to ignore the pain he turned around until he was facing the navi and buried his face into Blue's chest. The almost non-existent sobs grew louder, his breath grew heavy, and his body shook.

"Zero...Hey, Zero." Again, Blues had no idea what he should be doing at the moment, he just wanted him to stop crying. "Don't cry." He half pleaded, slipping his fingers underneath Zero's chin and lifting his head. He felt a pang as he looked into the sullen blue eyes, wet with tears. "Come on, stop crying.." He swallowed hard and continued trying to think of something to say to him, forcing himself not to push him away and retreat, god this was hard, but it was even harder to watch. Still fresh thoughts of Zero fading away in his arms flared up like an intense flame, and he wanted even more for Zero to stop crying, for him to be alright again. Though he wasn't sure if he'd ever be alright again, Blues would settle for Zero calming down at this point.

"I'm...I'm sorry..." Zero cried. "It hurt so much...I couldn't.. I couldn't take it...please don't be mad at me..." Please don't hate me... As much as he felt that Blues should inanely hate him at lest half as much as he hated himself, he didn't want him to hate him right now. Blues was the only thing keeping him from that painless darkness, and when he was with him at this moment, being held like this, feeling how warm he was, how strong he was in his arms, it made him not want to go back, it made him want to stay here like this. For the first time, he found something tangible something that really and truly made him want to be alive to experience, to be in the presence of.

"Of course I'm mad at you." Blues blurted out, his self-control seemed to fail him. "Don't ever do that again or I'll kill you my self."

The tears swelled up even more in his eyes, he started to feel as if he had missed Blues strongly for a long time, for an eternity. With a silent, trembling sob he threw his arms around Blue's neck, "I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm sorry." He pleaded, again starting to feel the feelings of deep self-loathing. "I just didn't want to-

Blues hadn't thought that Zero had heard when he'd said that. "Baka, stop saying that." He said, closing his eyes and looking away with his characteristic level of of indifference showing on his face. But it was hard for it to have the same effect, it couldn't, not in this position. "I'm not mad at you anymore."

"So you...don't hate me?"

"You really don't listen do you." Blues snorted. "No."

Zero squeezed him tighter, sniffling once softly. Then he lifted his head enough to see Blue's face, because of how tightly he was holding on to his neck they were close, their noses nearly brushed against each other."...Thank you..." He felt really and truly now that he had a friend.

"Hn..." Blues grunted softly, looking into Zero's eyes, watching the depressed gaze with a captivation. He was waiting, hoping he'd see the look fade, but no matter how long he stared, waiting, it never did. And then suddenly the blue eyes closed he he felt Zero's lips against his own and he froze, sitting there with eyes wide, frozen.

He couldn't move, he couldn't think, he was only filled with this over whelming fear, and he suddenly became aware of how close they were, how he held Zero, how much of him he could feel. He stared at Zero, not sure how long he sat idle until a part of him began to stand aside and he timidly opened his mouth like a questioning child being coaxed into something he was afraid and unsure off, feeling Zero's tongue slip in, poking and prodding slowly and softy as if asking for permission.

He wanted this.. he wanted to hold Zero like this, he wanted to kiss him, he wanted to keep him warm, he wanted to ease the tormented pain that followed him, he wanted to protect him from himself... Maybe it was because Zero had nearly died that he felt this, or maybe it had developed on it's own. But...this was Zero, he hated Zero, he was constantly annoyed by him, and no matter what he knew that would persist. He couldn't like him, he couldn't... It was right here, it was so close to him, and he wanted it, just as badly as he wanted Zero to live, just as badly as he wanted Zero to be ok...Blues closed his eyes and kissed him back, long and hard, studying the sensation of Zero's skin against his, his hand remembering the feel of Zero's dying heart, pushing him deeper. He wasn't sure, but he felt like he was crying again, and he couldn't help thinking that this was real, and he wanted it all the more because of it... He felt his eyes burn and an itching wetness creeping down his cheeks, 'Zero...'

Zero pulled back, taking in deep breaths. He smiled lightly, a hinting of his usual friendly smile with the last few tears slipping from his eyes. "I've never seen your eyes before... "

Blues became tense again, then quickly looked away with embarrassment. He couldn't describe how he felt when he saw Zero smile again.

Zero laughed weakly, remembering the image of Blues' eyes vaguely as he laid his head against the navi's shoulder silently. It felt worth it, all of the pain, the deep depression, the self-loathing, just for this. He relished in the moment as long as he could before he fell asleep again.

When he realized what Zero was doing Blues became a bit uneasy, but he didn't stop him. As awkward as he felt he didn't let go of Zero, he held him tightly, aware of every single motion, action, watching over him with loosely with a protectiveness. "Great, now I'll never get rid of him..."

- ! -

_Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend _

_Somewhere along in the bitterness _

_And I would have stayed up with you all night _

_Had I known how to save a life_

- ! -

! - ! - !

! - ! - !


	23. Chapter 23: Means to an end part 1

Chapter 22: Means to an end part 1

_The same line of fronts from yesterday is still hanging around folks, it's moving really slowly, and it's losing strength so the winds wont be the strong and neither will the wind. Temperatures will remain in the upper 40s for the rest of the night. But be warned, there's a high pressure front that's going to come through very soon. The good news is that we're going to warm up, the bad news is that with this spring warm up comes strong spring showers. You can see the severe weather watch boxes far off over the ocean to the east, we can expect the warm water to strengthen those storms by the time it reaches land fall. It should be here by the 6am morning report so tune in for late breaking coverage. What I can tell you now is to expect heavy precipitation, high winds, and thunder-- Yes I said thunder, this new line of storms and be expected to reach..._

Lan's soft, peaceful face cringed and contorted into a pained one, the boy shifted underneath the covers unconsciously, suddenly feeling as if he was on fire. The discomfort began to wake him and he pried the covers off of himself before falling back asleep. But he still remained in an uneasy state of semiconscious, a nauseous stirring in his stomach haunted him and his breath began to grow labored. Sweat began to seep, and subtle pounding began to pulse in his head. "Uh...Oh great..." He mumbled weakly, immediately he wrapped his arms around his stomach and rolled on to his side, he lungs burned, grown more intense with each breath. His ears were greeted with the sound of heavy rainfall pounding against the hospital window, completely over powering the faint sound of Megaman's breathing.

Suddenly he felt his stomach churn and suddenly he couldn't breath, his eyes shot open wide to the blue light and the watery shadows of water cascading down the walls. He tried to cough and felt a thick liquid agitating his inwards almost like a strong itch. He sat up right and immediately sprang out of the bed, bolting through the hazy blue night into the bathroom and plunged his head over the sink. For what seemed like the longest time he stood there, coughing a violent string of watery coughs as quietly as he could manage. It was a full minute before the surging expulsions ceased, Lan felt a wetness dripping down his chin and he wiped it away, finding smeared blood across his palm and splatter in the sink. The world tilted and spun before his eyes, he felt as if he'd been spinning and had been brought to an abrupt stop "..." He was speechless, looking over it with a silent awe, not yet afraid but knowing deeply that something was wrong.

He washed out the sink quickly and trudged back to the bed with silent steps, pausing to glance at the clock. 1:30 am. He sat down on the edge of the bed and paused there, staring at the wall, listening to the rain that came harder then he'd ever heard it. He didn't normally do this, for a moment he wondered why he stopped like this and didn't feel the urge to move. His chin itched with residual feelings of blood and touched the spot to find nothing there. His head still throbbed behind the bandages and his body felt overheated. 'Hot...' He thought vaguely to himself. Slowly but surely unwanted feelings began to creep on to him. He started to feel afraid, lonely even, and when he felt this way he thought of Enzan and his loneliness

"Lan..." Megaman's voice called out weakly.

"Huh?" Lan almost expected his voice to come.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah...I guess..."

Megaman's locked, tight muscles began to loosen and slowly he was able to move again once his body recalibrated, one of many problems, a lot of his settings seemed to reset when he slept, leaving it hard to move when he woke up. He stretched his legs out and rolled over towards Lan, staring at his back without speaking, he was afraid. There was nothing for him to say, he knew what all of Lan's responses would be, what he'd say, how he'd say it, he understood it all. He understood Lan's fear, his uncertainty, there was nothing more to say at this point.

Lan didn't speak either, he wasn't sure how long he sat there, staring at that wall with the familiar reflection of rain. He stayed like that until he no longer felt the desire to do so anymore, but by then a half an hour had passed and he could no longer go back to sleep either. He stood up and stretched his hands above his head, "Man I wanna get out of here. I'm sick of this room." He sighed. "Now I know what Enzan feels like. I wish I could just go somewhere."

"At 4 in the morning?" Megaman smiled with a small amusement..

"I don't even care anymore, with all this stuff they're putting in me all I do is sleep." Lan lifted his arm and looked down at the tap still penetrating his veins, awaiting whatever IV his doctor thought to place into him next. "I feel like I'm just losing time, what's the point of anything if your just gonna sleep all time?"

"There are worse things." Megaman told him, "You could not wake up at all."

"Hn, I guess." Lan increasingly began to realize his own mortality, a part of him he was never aware existed. He had never thought he could die, and when he did think about death he thought of it as something in a far distant future, something impossible. But now he felt as if it was staring him in the face and he didn't know how to respond, it was something too astounding to believe, but he couldn't deny it either. "I keep sleeping and sleeping, and eventually I'm not going to wake up." And then he said it, but it wasn't like he thought it would be, it wasn't a monumental event with high emotions and tears running down. It was merely a calm admittance, something he could say again easily, something he believed.

"Lan, don't say things like that."

"Why not, it's true you know."

Megaman sat up, his knees drawn up and his tall form a bit restricted in the bed. "It _will_ be true of you keep talking like that, if you believe it Lan."

"Yeah, I guess so." Lan rested his hands behind his head and paced around the dark room familiarly. "I'm just sick of laying around doing nothing you know. I might as well be dead if I live like this." The rain made an erratic rhythm against the window, a hypnotic blur sheeted over the glass, thunder rolled and lighting flashed with a distant radiance, illuminating the room in a quick flood of light before leaving it dim again.

"Lan..." Megaman held his head down and stared at his lap in a sullen silence, a sadness came over him, he couldn't hide from the reality of this especially if Lan didn't. He sat there at 4 in the morning contemplating the possibility of Lan's death and how real it was, it was something he didn't think he could...could...

"Megaman?" Lan halted where he stood and looked back at the former navi with a suspicious curiosity. He saw the blank stare in his eyes and his body locked in place and knew immediately something was wrong. "Megaman?" Lan waved a hand in front of his face with no response. He clinched Megaman's shoulders with a pang of fear shooting through him and shook him, no response. "Megaman, come on, talk to me..." He pleaded, feeling his heartbeat start to grow faster and the itch of sweat seeping from his skin. "Megaman..." Fear flooded him with an overwhelming volume, he wanted to cry and scream and shake Megaman with all of his strength, but he swallowed and forced himself to stay calm, repeating over and over that Megaman would come out of it, he always did.

Megaman's head slowly raised almost as if to acknowledge Lan but his eyes didn't change, they were vacant and Lan felt as if Megaman was seeing right through him. It gave Lan an eerie pause, and he could only stare in bewilderment. "Mega...?"

The life returned to his eyes and his pupils dilated, Megaman took in a deep, gasping breath with sharp coughs as if he'd been drowning in the sea and fell on to his back, clinching his chest.

"Megaman? Are you alright?"

"...Yeah...yeah." Megaman nodded instinctively, the answer came second nature to him without thought.

"What happened?" Lan climbed on to the bed and on top of Megaman, studying him closely, touching and prodding every thing he could in his own examination .

"I don't know..." Megaman shook his head, staring up at the ceiling with his chest expanding and contracting rapidly. It wasn't blank for him this time, he had know recollection of what happened in the world around him but he hadn't been blank. It was as if all of the previous times that he'd blanked out he was suppose to be seeing something, suppose to be feeling something only it was just out of reach. This time it came on him like a sudden surge, it was overcome by a strong needing feeling, his entire body felt as if it was in pain and yearned organically for something. It couldn't be denied, and he stopped, froze, captured in it's wake. His eyes filled with hallucinogenic images, rapid and fading, unclear and alluring to whatever it was his being was crying out for. It was as if an arm or a leg was severed and the wound was bleeding and covered in an agonizing pain that engulfed his entire body, only it was all in his head, some untangle and unreachable wound screaming to be healed. "I was seeing things, I don't know what they were..."

! - ! - !

Blues held on tightly to the warm body pressed against his chest, most of the discomfort and awkwardness had faded away as he slept. Only now did it begin to feel completely right, the idea of what he was doing had settled in his mind and he had accepted it. A part of him was starting to recede and he was beginning to accept how aesthetic the feeling of Zero in his arms was, how strongly he wanted to hold on, the comfort that arose inside of him by keeping him close, the intense notions in his mind that coveted Zero in his entirely. He felt as though he had not slept, that he had closed his eyes and reopened them to find hours had passed by in a single blink, and now he lay awake wondering, pondering, accepting...

Blues closed his eyes and laid his head down against Zero's shoulders, his arms tightening their grip around the half navi's bare torso. He couldn't fight against it, he could merely acknowledge it and try to find some way to accept it.

He liked the frustrating bastard.

This person that drove him to the end of his wits, that wore his patience down, that frustrated and enthralled him, that at times made him feel like laughing and other times screaming. This person who he wanted to hug and strangle, that made him want to beat him to a bloody pulp and instilled in him the desire to protect him from everything that could hurt him, even himself. He wanted to push him away and save him from himself, he loved him and hated him at the same time. There was an upheaval inside of him, this strange part of him that seemed to come out of an indefinite dormancy and it liked Zero so strongly it scared him. But there was the part of him that was always there, creating an awkward, discouraging feeling that he shouldn't have, not for him of all people.

He had been scared, in a way he'd never been in all of his life, something so strong it made him doubt that he'd ever known true fear at all. Maybe that was all that really mattered in the end, those feelings that were so intense it was futile to try and dissuade himself from them. Those were the only ones, he knew in some deep unconscious place with in himself, that were important.

He just wished it wasn't so damn hard.

Zero shifted around softly in Blues' arms, a subtitle motion that Blues hardly noticed and immediately dismissed, he was even grateful for it, it reminded him that he was still alive. Blues lay in silence, unable and and not completely willing to fall back asleep, when Zero shifted again, the half-navi's arms pressed against Blues' and his fingers gripped Blues' hands a little tighter. Blues peeked at him and wondered vaguely if the equivocally restless Zero was starting to grow uncomfortable in having held this position for so long. 15 minutes later Zero's peaceful face cringed into something of frustration and he moved as if he was going to roll over, but just as soon he was at peace again. Blues opened one eye and began to wonder if it was alright to let him sleep now when he'd never slept in his life. Another interval of 15 minutes passed and Zero grunted, his body tense, and did roll over this time, burying his face into Blues' chest. Blues didn't close his eyes this time, his absentminded curiosity began to grow into an uncertainty. He waited and Zero shifted again, the cringe on his face was more intense, he tossed from side to side a few times before he became still again.

Blues was about to intervene but Zero opened hie eyes before Blues could decide how he should do it. Blues found himself staring into Zero's sleepy blue eyes and became like a dear captured in some enthralling fear under the glare of head lights. "...Z...Zero..." He was suddenly speaking like a confused child and wanted to kick himself for being this nervous, embarrassed because of his close proximity. It wasn't something he was used too. "What? What is it?"

Zero's eyelids fell to oscitant slits and he opened his mouth wide in sloppy yawn. "Huh?" Having just waken his drowsy consciousness was obvious to what Blues meant, and it was clear to anyone that would that he hadn't been ready to retreat from his sleep.

"Are you alright?"

Zero yawned again and nodded, prying his eyes open to a half-lidded state. "Yeah... I guess. I wasn't ready to get up but...yeah, sure." He felt a frustration and a vague understanding of why Blues was always so angry in the morning, though that didn't explain the rest of the day. He closed his eyes and laid his head against Blue's chest, attempting to reclaim the comforts of sleeping in the navi's arms. But his attempt was thwarted by something he couldn't fully explain. "Can I...stay like this a little longer?" Zero inquired with an uncharacteristic timidness, fearing rejection strongly enough to simply abandon asking at all but wanting it strongly enough to attempt it anyway.

Blues closed his eyes indifferently and made no attempts to deny him, inside he preferred it even.

Zero nodded gratefully even if Blues had missed it and closed his eyes soon after. He came closer then he had last time, his entire being almost diluted into the warmth and he was on the edge of losing consciousness. It came suddenly, washing over him hard and strong like a bout of nausea inducing vomit. There was this immense irritation, he felt uncomfortable in his own skin as if it was a tight outfit that was close to ripping. His calm mind was suddenly flooded with a million and one random thoughts, individual voices all conveying something different all at once and he couldn't stop it. "Un..." he grunted, shifting around in a fruitless bid to get comfortable again, the random clutter in his mind wasn't something he even noticed at first, he kept moving around in hopes of finding an body arrangement that wasn't so unbearable.

But it started to ware on him.

The million voices conveying a million thoughts, ideas, hopes, fears, feelings, all blending into a chaotic mess proved to be the true source of discomfort. He couldn't concentrate, he couldn't hear himself think, he just wanted it to be quiet!

"Zero?" Blues withdrew his arms from Zero and sat upright, "What is it?"

Then all at once his body felt right and his mind was calm again, like shadows dispelling at the flick of a light switch. He was sure that was the cause of his sleeplessness. "I don't know..." Zero lifted one hand to his forehead and sat up beside Blues, reassessing himself. He was still in his pants, his chest and his feet were bare, he found his chest armor, his helmet, and his boots in a neat pile nearby his sword . His items were half jumbled in with Blues' helmet, chest armor and boots, he couldn't seem to locate Blues' sword. "I just started feeling really funny, I couldn't get comfortable and I couldn't think or anything."

It was nearly 5 am now.

"Is it...over? Are you ok now?" Blues asked, knowing there was only one predictable thing about Zero's chronic problems, they all passed eventually.

Zero nodded. He didn't say anything after that, he sat with his arms resting on his knees and staring idle at the ground, Blues congruently didn't speak, feeling throughly uncomfortable acting this way, being close to Zero in this way, it felt strange. Zero contemplated himself in silence, wondering the wages of his life now with the addition of yesterday's events. He felt a dread, waiting for a pain he knew would come made him anxious and tense, he began to wish that whatever was going to happen to him would just happen so it could be over with. With every breath he felt as if he was getting closer to that pain he knew would come, it was taunting him, holding it in front of his face, feeding it too him just enough to instill a fear of it in him... So, he thought to himself, was it worth it? Should he still be alive? He felt guilt as if he had indulged in something, life, and he shouldn't have, it was reminiscent to waking up the morning after you've just had sex and knowing immediately that you shouldn't have, that you had screwed up royally. Damnit...should he be alive? Should he have just have died and avoided the mess he felt deeply in his soul was about to descend upon him like darkness at night? "Somethings happening to me." Zero finally spoke, his voice weak and distracted.

Blues lifted his head and looked over at Zero, he'd begun to lose himself in his own devices and hadn't expected or particularly appreciated being roused from them. "What?" He inquired with a half attentive voice, still staring down off to the side.

"It just.. feels like somethings gonna happen to me now, or real soon." He sighed. Zero scratched his ear and dropped his hand back into place, pausing to look up at Blues with the childish eyes of a younger sibling before casting his head down out of sight. He no longer felt a shame around Blues about himself, all that remained was the sullen disgrace he felt for simply being, and that was not so great that he could not handle it as long as he had Blues. "I don't know, I just wonder if I should have just died yesterday." He said, his voice holding a thoughtfulness, he was struggling to gain some kind of understanding, stumbling for some answer.

Blues again was amazed at the calm humility in Zero's voice. He sharply lifted his fist and pounded in the back of Zero's head with a hard blow, hearing the satisfying cry of pain following. "Dumbass! Of course not!" He shouted, folding his arms in a new state of aggravation, he regretted being interrupted from his thoughts. "What did I tell you about saying things like that, your the only person who would talk like this."

Zero rubbed the back of his head and whined softly. "But I really mean it!"

"That's why you shouldn't talk." Blues retorted callously, 'Idiot.'

Zero glared up at him, but eventually relented, he didn't feel much like a fight. Another silence descended over them and Blues returned to his thoughts, Zero his own. No, maybe it wouldn't have been better to die, he thought with a faint smile, then Blues would be mad at him.

His smile was short lived, the 15 minute recession ended and his skin suddenly as if it had been put on backwards, a torrent of clutter poured into his mind from some invisible flood gate. Every word was his own undeniably, but where and why they were all coming at once was yet to be discovered. Zero could barely sit still, he became fearful an anxious, trying to think but not able to hear his own thoughts over his thoughts. He looked up at Blues who wasn't paying attention and immediately decided to remain quiet, not to tell him anything or give him cause for worry, the part of his mind that acted without thinking, that constantly hinted and suggested drove him now. He sat and fidgeted and trembled until it passed and his skin felt right and he could think coherently again, then he sat and trembled silently.

He couldn't take much more of this.

'?' Blues flinched and looked down with a start when he felt Zero wrap his arms around his waist and lay his head in his lap, completely unaware that he had moved at all until he felt him. This was not something he could get used to. He looked over Zero suspiciously, though with Zero's face pressing into his stomach he couldn't draw much. "What's wrong with you?" He asked expectantly.

Zero didn't respond immediately, and when he did his voice was soft and shy, unsure."I...just wanna go back to sleep."

This proved to be a facade.

There was no longer any sleep to be had, only phases of torturous horror and the dread of that horror. This, however, was not something he wanted Blues knowing, he no longer wished to burden him with problems he could do nothing about. He sensed his fate the first time he opened his eyes and looked up at Lan, maybe it was coming to pass, for real this time. "I'm tired...I'm just really tired."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

This had not been a pleasant past few hours to say the least..

A few hours prior Lan had watched Megaman become little more then a blank slate while he hallucinated. It certainly wasn't the last time he'd watched it, over that time span he watched Megaman was pelted by an onslaught of problems, glitches that seemed to come one after another with little time in-between. First he began convulsing, and it ceased quickly. Then his vision became blurry and the world seemed to tilt at such an incline Megaman feared he'd fall out of the bed. At that point Lan was distressed and had suggested a few things. All of which Megaman refused, wanting only to sleep. This continued for a good deal of time, far too long for Lan to handle.

"Mega!" Lan grabbed Megaman's arm and pulled him upright onto the bed, deciding that he could no longer stay idle and that he would do something about this whether Megaman liked it or not. "Come on, get up." Megaman didn't immediately fall backwards on to the bed again as Lan expected he would by the look of him, the former navi sat up, leaning forward loosely, inches from losing what little balance was keeping him from falling flat on his face. But his face was blank, half lidded eyes stared outward with a wanton gaze, he was unresponsive, for all Lan knew Megaman didn't know he was there anymore. But Lan was certain he was finally awake this time, or else he wouldn't have made it this far.

This conscious, however, was not one at all, a pseudo consciousness. Lan ended up trying to get him to respond for about a minute before he regained himself. Megaman looked over at Lan with a slow stirring, he could see the desperation, the fear in his eyes, but for some reason his mind was too hazy to comprehend why let alone act on it. He felt cloudy, heavy, the world seemed dull to him, with little distinction, everything seemed to run and blur together "Huh...?"

"Megaman!" Lan grasped Megaman's shoulders and shook him forcefully, hoping to jar him out of this. "Come on, wake up! Can't you see there's something wrong with you?"

Megaman closed his eyes, his words were slurred and slow, and his voice was faltering. "I'm fine...I'll just... sleep it off..."

Lan had never seen a person so bound in lethargy, Megaman didn't even know what was happening to him. Though in all fairness, Lan didn't know what was happening to Megaman either. There was only one thing Lan could do at this point, call the only person who could possibly handle this. 'My dad has to know something by now...' He hoped a desperation, feeling as he'd been blind to a timer contentiously counting down, and now all a sudden time had run out and now he in a scrambling panic.

Megaman began falling backwards, null energy, little awareness. "Mega!" Lan yanked him back upright. "Alright, no more, Come on." Lan slipped Megaman's arm over his shoulder and dragged him out of bed, he was thankful that Megaman had enough presence of mind to put his feet down but even then a good portion of his weight was leaning on a not nearly as strong Lan. "Man your heavy, Wake up!" Lan cried, but to no avail, Megaman was barely moving as it was.

Lan dragged him along a few steps, forcing him to come along, when he realized Megaman didn't have any clothing on beyond a pair of boxers. The urge to scream at that point was tempting, it might even wake up Megaman, but he doubted it and it would only draw unneeded attention.

No screaming.

He pulled Megaman over to the side of the bed and attempted to set him down softly but in the end he merely dropped him. "What's wrong with you?" Lan didn't get any resistance here, he easily slipped Megaman's pants on, then held him upright while he pulled Megaman's arms into his shirt one by one, then pulled it down over his head and the rest of his torso.

He was scared. No, He was terrified. He wanted to yell in frustration, he wanted to cry in a sullen sense of futility.

"Don't give up yet Mega." Lan half whispered, he wrapped his arms around Megaman's waist and began pulling him up. And just as soon it seemed another glitch took hold. Megaman spasmed sharply, his entire body began trembling, Lan could hear his breathing grow heavy and slow. He couldn't hold on to him and was forced to drop him again. "No, no, no!" Lan pressed his hands against Megaman's chest and held him down to keep from sliding on to the floor. "Why does this keep happening! Are your systems freezing or something?"

Lan could do nothing but hold on to him until the convulsions ceased, and Megaman wasn't any more lucid for the trembling. Lan wasted no time, he pulled Megaman on to his feet and held on to him tightly, thankful he still was awake enough to move a little. He felt strongly that he had to go right now, despite the fact that he was nauseous, and the medicine he was given made him drowsy, or his lungs ached with a hot, throbbing pain, burning with each breath.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

He knew something was wrong the moment he woke up, before he opened his eyes, before he gained a sense of himself. Blues supposed he'd known even while he was still asleep, at some point in the early mornings after he manged to lose consciousness he'd lost a certain warmth, and the comfort of holding something tightly that he'd never experienced before that time. Maybe it was because he'd gone so long with out it that it was so easy not to notice when it was gone, used to the empty sensation. Blues opened his eyes, first staring outward with a bewildered expression. "Wha...?" Blues sat upright, looking around with a growing anxiousness, where was he? Where was Zero?

The first thing he noticed was that Zero's things were gone, his boots, his armor, his helmet, and every trace of him with it. Blues could derive that at lest Zero was in a clear state of mind when he crept off, only he didn't know why, or where too. "What the hell..." He climbed to his feet and looked around again, as if maybe a second examination would yield results the first hadn't.

It didn't.

And a million things ran through his mind in a horrid dread, he was too worried, to afraid, he shouldn't have been. Maybe there was nothing wrong, maybe he was blowing this out of portion, he should just calm down.

Blues, however, was cursed with knowing Zero better then he would have liked too. Maybe if he hadn't he could have fooled himself and have been rid of this worry, but alas he couldn't. He knew Zero had been a great distance away from alright when he saw him last, he wouldn't have left like this, not normally he wouldn't have. Was he in some type of trouble, was he afraid of something?

Blues waited impatiently for a few moments, hoping that Zero might return on his own, but he didn't. Blues began searching every where, every inch of every space he could reach, but he didn't find anything. He scrutinized the smaller details and hoped to find a trace or some type of trail, but at that point he had already known inside of himself that there was none to be found.

Eventually he returned to the control room, seeking out Enzan who was still submerged in a mountain of work. "Blues? Where were you? I haven't seen a trace of you since the day before yesterday."

"Have you seen Zero?" He asked.

Enzan shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him either." The boy remembered Tadashi telling him that he was on his way here. "Wasn't he with you?"

"He was." Blues' worry doubled, he grew unbearably anxious. "I have to find him right now."

Enzan looked at him questioningly, wondering what had gotten him so roused. "Calm down,he probably went back to Tadashi or something."

Again, Blues knew Zero. He wouldn't have gone anywhere near Tadashi in the state he was in, either in the spirit of shame that made the thought of Tadashi seeing him unbearable, or the constant fear that he stood a greater risk of infecting something. "He couldn't be there."

"How do you know?"

Blues was becoming frustrated stopping to explain everything, he was wasting time! "It doesn't matter, I just have to find him right now."

Enzan was bewildered by the sudden reemergence of Blues in such a state, immediately wanting to know what had caused him to be this frantic, why was he so fixated on finding Zero. "Yeah, ok."

! - ! -!

"Is there anything you can do?" Lan stood anxiously against the wall, his form tense as if he was ready to react to something, leaning forward anticipating, hoping, fearing all at once. Wishing there was something he could do to help, to contribute.

His father's office, and also laboratory, was covered in machines, devices, objects that Lan knew nothing about but it gave a cold, professional, knowledgeable atmosphere, just being here made him feel as if there was no doubt everyone of Megaman's problems could be fixed. As naive as that was.

There were no windows, making the room seem as though it was in some isolated place underground but the rain could be heard and low rumbles of thunder along with it. The building seemed vacant and empty, there were no sounds of people, it was devoid of life, making Lan keenly aware of how early his father got to work. 5:30 every morning and today was no different. This laboratory wasn't Tadashi's exclusively, in truth he shared it with 3 others, in practice it was vacant, it was an unspoken but naturally acquired knowledge among Tadashi's co-workers that this was his lab. Megaman was laid out on a screening table, an improvement as far as the part of him still conscious was concerned, leds connected to points on his face and bare chest and connected by white wires to a monitor. Not much had changed between when he'd been forced out of bed by Lan and now, he was still impossibly lethargic and plagued with malfunctions constantly.

"Well..." Tadashi leaned over a counter top, his eyes glued to the screen of a computer, one of many. "Right now I'm not sure, I don't even know what's wrong with him yet."

Lan took in a deep breath and leaned back against the wall, watching silently with an anxious curiosity. He studied every one of his father's movements, tried to identify every object he picked up and interpret every expression on his father's face. He wished he could have understood everything that was happening, maybe then he wouldn't have felt this unbearable tension, maybe then he could be as calm as his father always was. He was calm, that was good right? It would have been bad if he was anything else, maybe he was so calm because he was on to something, maybe he knew what to do? Or maybe it meant nothing at all, maybe it was just Tadashi being Tadashi. 'What was that thing in his hand? What was he gonna do with it? He's sticking it someplace...Megaman's neck? Why is he doing that? Doesn't Megaman feel that? Didn't it hurt? It seems like something like that would hurt, that has to hurt. That would wake me up. I can't ever seem to wake up in the morning, I always over sleep. Megaman never oversleeps. He always wakes me up. He's always on time. He's like an alarm clock. My alarm clock broke a long time ago. I hit it too hard and it cracked. Maybe Megaman got hit. Oh man! Something inside him must have cracked and broke or something. My Dad's gonna have to cut him open or something like that. Isn't there another way? No, he has to. What if he can't find what's broken? Does that mean Megaman won't wake up. Is he gonna go into a coma? People who gone into comas always die. Megaman's gonna-'

"Lan."

Lan flinched ,Tadashi's voice jarring him from his contemplations. He lifted his head, his eyes wide and attentive in hopes of learning more about Megaman. "What?"

The man lifted his hand to his face and adjusted his glasses, "You should go back to the hospital, I can handle it from here and I'll let you know when I find something out."

"Well how long will that take?" The hospital was not where he wanted to be, he wanted too, no, he needed to stay here with Megaman. He felt as though those ominous feelings he'd been having that instilled an uneasy fear in his consciousness for so long, were finally culminating.

"I don't know."

Lan shook his head adamantly, his anxiousness prevailing in an abundance of energy that poured into his every word and movement."I can't leave." He spoke louder then he had intended too.

"Lan this isn't up for discussion." Tadashi said, making it clear he meant it. He'd deemed some time ago that Lan was not fit to be out of bed let alone out of the hospital all together 'I can teach you caution, but I can't make you safe I suppose.'

"I can't dad." Lan pleaded. "Megaman...he might-"

Tadashi picked up a chart from the counter and began scanning over it, it's contents were unknown to Lan. "Megaman will be fine, don't worry about him. You, on the other hand, should be worried about yourself."

Lan felt an aggravation rising inside of him, he felt as if he'd come against a wall and a frustrated anger burned in him like a new flame. "A few hours outside the hospital won't kill me!" Lan shouted. "What does it matter, it's not like they're doing anything for me! I'll be fine but Megaman wont!"

Tadashi wasn't thrilled that Lan was screaming at him, but he couldn't say he didn't understand why. His first impulse was to confine him to the hospital room, but he hadn't step foot out of the room in a week anyway, even after Enzan left. Tadashi certainly couldn't watch Lan, and his son was one of the more impulsive adolescences he had known. The feelings of futility in even being there, not to mention whatever distractions frequently came along would have been enough to make him sneak out long ago had Megaman not been there. And now his best friend was lying here in a suddenly horrible condition..."Fine, an hour or two and that's it, I mean it." Tadashi spoke with an even stiffer voice, leaving no room for any negotiation.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Lan nodded, readily agreeing and knowing this was an unusual lapse in his usually inflexible father, he would accept it for now and and could only hope to gain some leverage later.

Tadashi set the chart down and leaned back against the desk, the room became silent and Tadashi thought deeply. The silence lasted for 5 minutes strait, Lan was amazed that Tadashi could stand still and think for so long without becoming restless as he had. "You said these malfunction happened close together? How close?"

"I don't know, like 10-15 minutes apart." Lan shrugged.

"Hmm..."

A short string of beeps sounded in a loud, high pitched burst. Tadashi watched Megaman cringe at the noise and roll over on his side, unaware that there was anything in the outside world besides noise. Then he instinctively turned to his computer.

Lan leaned forward with an indefinable curiosity. "What?"

"It's Enzan..." Tadashi struck a button and an image of Enzan and Eltgo's island control room appeared on the screen. "Enzan? What is it?"

"We need to know if you've seen Zero." He said, rather calmly.

Tadashi shook his head, then glanced at Lan who did the same. "We haven't seen him, wasn't he with you?"

"He _was_ with me." Blues interjected, abruptly and impatiently. "He disappeared a few hours ago."

"I'm sure he's alright." Tadashi told him, he would have asked Megaman but he got the strong feeling that it would do no good. Call it a hunch.

"No, he's not." Blues protested, though it wasn't exactly clear to everyone else why.

"Why are you so worried, he disappears all the time."

"He's not alright, we have to find him!" Blues growled.

"What's the problem?"

His anxiousness translated into anger and before he knew it he was shouting. "He died last night! That's the problem! He died last night and he wasn't ok this morning! A person doesn't just disappear after that and everything's ok."

Tadashi felt his heart jump with a startled shock and he nearly froze in awe. He became immediately attentive. "Wait, died?"

"What do you mean died! Someone just doesn't die!" Lan exclaimed in a horrid fear that made him feel a sudden chill.

"Well Zero's not exactly a regular someone." Blues snorted.

"Why didn't you-"

"I wasn't exactly in a place that I could easily get out of."

Tadashi readjusted his glasses and stared upward thoughtfully. "You said he wasn't doing to well this morning, how was he, could he move on his own?"

"Well, after he regained consciousness after dying and all, he fell asleep. And every 15 minutes he would start shifting around, he told me he couldn't think and he felt strongly uncomfortable. Then he started talking darker then he usually does. Just like he did before..." Blues' voice trailed off, but he immediately forced himself back into focus. "For all I know he might be dying again."

Tadashi looked over at Lan curiously, and Lan looked up at him with the same thought, then the man looked back at Megaman as if he had just realized he was missing something of paramount importance. "You said 15 minutes right?"

"Yeah, why?" Blues asked, recognizing the inquisitional key of his voice and immediately hoped this conformation would lead to Zero.

"That's odd, because we're having a similar problem with Megaman."

"You think it's connected?" Enzan asked.

"Yes, infact I'm certain of it." Tadashi's movements gained an authority at the certainty of his words, he seemed to have spawned a purpose and he acted on it hastily. "I always had a theory there was a correlation between what was happening to Megaman and what was happening to Zero." Tadashi rolled Megaman onto his back and stretched him out on the table, gaining no resistance from him either way. He reconnected the cord to back of Megaman's neck that had become dislodged from it's port during Megaman's last movement."It would make sense considering how Zero came to be." It was disheartening to watch Megaman in this state, as if the life was seeping out of him before his eyes. He seemed to be in a constant state of fading, of drifting, though never reaching sleep, always semi-conscious, always partially awake.

"Do you have anyway to find him? Do you guys know where he might have gone?" Enzan asked.

Tadashi glanced over Lan who had nothing to offer up. Tadashi shook his head with discomfited response. "I'm afraid our means of finding him are no greater than yours...but Megaman might know away. If I can do something to get him to respond that is."

"How long has he been like this?" Enzan asked.

"A few hours." Lan said. Another anomaly shared between Megaman and Blues, this theory was becoming a self-assumed fact. "I guess they both started at the same time, that has to mean something right?"

"Yes." Tadashi nodded.

"What's been happening to Megaman, maybe some of the things are the same with Zero." Blues suggested

"Don't worry about the symptoms, those anomalies don't mean anything and I'd expect them to be different since Megaman and Zero are different. What _is_ important is what exactly is causing them." Tadashi explained. "Maybe if I can get Megaman to be somewhat lucid again he'll be able to shed some light on Zero's location."

Lan shook his head, a little confused at what Tadashi meant. "But he's been with me this whole time, he doesn't know."

Tadashi remembered and had meticulously documented what Megaman had described to him of his experiences during the fight with the '201102' virus. How he froze, how he felt an overwhelming, crushing emptiness, and that his body and mind cried out resoundingly that he was merely a severed piece and felt the immense will, desire, need to be whole again. "If the rest of my theory is correct then that wont be a problem."

"Why don't you bring Megaman here then?" Enzan suggested. "This place may have a lot of damages and the systems aren't completely operational but there's a lot of tools here that were used to create that body, not to mention all of the developmental notes and research. I'd think it'd be much faster then trying to figure it out on your own."

For some reason unknown to Tadashi, he suddenly remembered all of the things Zero said about him losing himself and doing something he feared horribly. He wondered what Zero was thinking at this moment. "Well..." '?' Tadashi became fully attentive again, his eyes focused on the monitor as the image of Enzan became blurry and overexposed, "Enzan?"

"Tad-..." Static soon followed, and the connection was lost.

Lan looked up at his father with a perplexed expression. "What? What happened?"

Tadashi leaned forward and peered silently for a moment. "...I don't know, whatever it was it's on their end."

"We're gonna take Megaman there right?" Lan asked anticipatively. "It's worth a shot isn't it."

"Yes it is, but your not going."

"No Dad you can't-"

"Your not going Lan." Tadashi said firmly.

"But Megaman-"

"Megaman will be fine." Tadashi cut him off, making it clear that there would be no clemency on this time. "Your going back."

! - ! - !

Enzan leaned forward in his chair, and stared at the screen, shifting through more settings, trying to figure out the reason for the sudden disruption and his inability to reconnect. His search yielded nothing. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Blues said.

"I can't reconnect..." Enzan sat back in his chair with a growing frustration. "Looks like some type of interference,I don't know why, go see what you can find."

"Yeah."

It was a simple task, Blues knew his way around the system, or more accurately what was left of it, aptly. The control room's systems were what he knew most of all since this was where he spent most of the time, helping Enzan. Naturally he knew his way around the utilities from his experience before the string of catastrophic accidents that had left the island in this condition. He of course assumed this would take no longer then a few moments.

This prove to be untrue.

What he hadn't anticipated was that this disruption wasn't one of many minor technical difficulties that now plagued every system in the network. No, he found something quite unexpected.

The first thing that happened was an increasingly unstable connection with Enzan, static that grew stronger and louder as he progressed deeper. "Enzan, what is that?"

"I don't know." Enzan was hard to hear over the static. "Are you ok?"

"There's nothing happening to me." Blues looked around, trying to find something unusual, out of place, anything that could remotely cause a disruption. He could find nothing, but to his defense he didn't exactly know where to look. "I don't see anything either."

"It gets worse the farther you go so you probably haven't reached it yet." Enzan said. "You find it and you'll probably find what's causing the problem. It's up to you if you wanna keep going, might be dangerous."

"I'll take my chances."Blue didn't hesitate to move forward and out of communication's range, keeping his eyes open and attentive but his mind wandered.

What was he doing here?

Why was he doing _this_.

He was supposed to be looking for Zero. It was nearing 6 am he noticed, and he couldn't help thinking that this was the time Zero would have began his customary ritual of rude intrusion. He'd be standing over him with that childish grin, blue eyes bright and energetic that seemed perversely immune to the fatigue and lethargic ravages of the morning. Idiomatically spouting some aggravating nonsense that never ceased to annoy him. He wondered what could have been done to make the outcome of all of this different.. But it had only been a few hours, maybe he was getting a head of himself, he hoped he was getting ahead of himself.

And like something out a dream he saw him, and it immediately became some horrendous nightmare that played out helplessly before his eyes. "Z-Zero!" Blues choked out, he froze in a captivated awe, staring. Zero stood before him in a weak, sweaty mass, the odd blue blood trickling down from under his helmet. He leaned against one of two large tunnel like structures, the only two remaining working lines that connected outside of the control room, his arms hugged his body tightly and he lurched forward only inches from falling. He heaved with gasping breaths as if he was being strangled. He shook, his body withering in pain. "Zero!" Blues bolted forward as fast as he could towards the ailing half navi.

Zero's eyes widened in fear as if he saw something hideous happening before his eyes. "No! Stop! Stop! Don't come any closer!" He yelled with a louder voice Blues had imagined he could.

Blues came to an abrupt stop, a surge of anxious energy running through him like electricity urging him to keep moving. "Zero, what's wrong with you? What happened to you?"

"I..." Zero clinched his eyes shut and fell back completely on to the line. He didn't have the capability or capability to explain it, the pain jarred his mind and his senses were slowly being phased out, he couldn't utter anything beyond an inarticulate- "It hurts."

Blues bolted forward again and Zero flinched as if being suddenly attacked. "No! Stop! Please don't!" Zero pleaded franticly. "Blues don't!"

"What the hell!" Blues forced himself to stop again, only a few feet away from him. He wished so badly he could just reach out and grab him. "What! Tell me something! What happen to you, why did you leave!"

"I had too..."Zero forced out. Then the tremors convulsing through his body became sharp spasms and he keeled forward, hands on his knees and couched violently. He spewed up more blue blood on to the floor with the most atrocious sounds that had ever reached Blues' ears. Zero immediately lifted his head, blood sliding down his lips, with a pleadingly halting gaze. "I didn't want to...I tried..." Zero's face began to twinge and tears began to roll down his cheek, converging on his chin with the blood. "I tried. I tried my damnedest to fight it but I couldn't. There was no way to fight it, there was nothing to fight...I can't fight myself." He sobbed.

Blues' eyes narrowed and he could longer stand here and watch this. Determined that this would be his last stopping point he ran forward towards Zero.

"NO STOP!"

! - ! - !

"What the hell!" Enzan lept upward more quickly then he had been able too in weeks, adrenaline surged through him, staring down at the computer terminal in a startled fear. The screen flickered and began faltering, going blank as if it had cut off then flaring with every color it could produce in an erratic malfunction. Just barely he could see beyond all of it in split second glances, it was unmistakable, '201102'

'It's infected? But how?" Enzan lept on to the desk in the reach of the back of the terminal, he began yanking out any cord he saw, instinctively fearing it's spread. "No! It can't be!" This was not something this place could take right now!

! - ! -!

It happened so fast that Blues barely realized what was happening, he got no more then a few stops before he saw Zero leap out at him at such a frightening pace he appeared to be gliding on air, sword drawn back. For a split second he realized he could see through the body of Zero darting towards him, like a ghost reaching out to cease him. Beyond that he could see Zero, again, still lurching forward in pain. Zero slashed across his chest with a swift blow, knocking him backwards before disappearing in a blur of static. "!" Blues was so startled that he couldn't gather the reflexes to catch himself, he fell backwards, staring confoundedly at Zero. "Z-Zero? What was-"

"..." Zero coughed again in a spray of blood, his eyes became incognizant. Like a burning wick reaching it's end, his senses became overwhelmed, static filled his vision, he couldn't hear anything, not his thoughts, not his breaths, not his pulse, only static. The world drifted away from him, everything felt so distant... Zero slipped down silently to his knees, his eyes falling closed, his arms falling weakly from around his torso, and fell to the ground.

"Zero!" Blues scrambled to his feet and ran with all of his might in an uncoordinated dash. "Zero!" He nearly fell trying to reach him, stumbling in the last inches and coming so close to the ground he could feel the heat of his skin under his finger tips. But he didn't, a sudden eruption of what seemed to be an energy burst in an explosion of blinding white. Before Zero knew it he was struck with a strong, burning impact that swept him backwards like a strong wind. He crashed to the ground in a rough trail, immediately his eyes shot open and he lifted his head in a frantic and startled attempt to figure out what had just happened. For his speed he caught a quick glimpse of Zero leaping into the air, both pairs of wings stretched to full span, before disappearing before his eyes by means of speed or otherwise. "Zero!"

What had just happened? A question that rung in his mind an echo devoid of a response. Blues climbed to his feet, looking around reverently in fear for the once again missing half-navi. What had just happened? What was it he was struck by? What was that spiriting force that had cut him? What was that force that repelled him? The thought came into his mind hot and dry, was this it? Had he just watched Zero... become what he always feared?

"B-...wh-...can...ou...r...e...?"

Blues was snapped out of his horrified reverence by the garbled voice obstructed by vicious. "Enzan?"

The second time around the static was starting to clear like gray clouds before the sun swept away by the winds. "Blues, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

"..." Blues couldn't even respond to that, he felt frozen, bound by something, in shock. "Yeah..."

"I guess you found it. What was causing the interference?" Enzan asked.

Bringing Blues to another realization. "It was him." He said, his voice still in awe though only from this new enlightenment. It solidified the thought in his mind, a lamented confirmation. "It was Zero, he was causing it."

"But your alright? So that's not it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The system, the computer I'm on has just been infected. Get out of there right now!"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !


	24. Chapter 24: Means to an end part 2

Chapter 23: Means to an end part 2

_If you look outside there isn't much difference between the forecast last night at 12 and right now at 6am. The storm front that has been hanging over us is finally moving out with the cool air mass and taking this low pressure system with it Temperatures will be rising out of the cool 40s they're in right now because of this high pressure front that has just reached land fall. I think we have a shot with our action news sky cam over the ocean front, you can see all of those dark clouds and more lighting just off the coast. Your forecast for today, a big warm up into the high 60s, but again, expect strong showers. There's already a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the following counties..._

Tadashi struggled to stand against the harsh winds wiping all around him, seemly changing direction at random intervals. The storm pelt him him with a torrent of rain, far harder then it had been the previous day. The sounds of thunder, the clash of lightning, the roar of the stirring ocean around him was formidably intense, not at all helped by the engine of the helicopter and the winds it created on it's own. Tadashi reached back in and pulled a complacent, completely unaware Megaman out of his seat and on to the helipad. Megaman staggered forward, looking as if bare instincts was the only thing compelling him to put his feet forward when he began to fall. He was like a staggering drunk on the verge of passing out. "Come on Megaman." Tadashi half shouted, struggling to be heard over rumbling noises. He wrapped his arms around Megaman's waist and pulled him along.

It was 9 am, daylight, though not a single ray could be seen beyond the black clouds. The storm sprang upon them suddenly, about halfway over the ocean, the rains and winds transgressed from a minor annoyance to something a torrent that nearly blew them off course.

Enzan pried open the steel door barring entrance from the helipad, slowly and with visible strain. He was met by the storm and was soaked far faster then he realized. Tadashi curiously carted Megaman inside, and leaned against the wall for a small rest, watching Enzan push the door shut. "What's wrong with the door?"

"It's not the door." Enzan wiped the water from his face, looking over Megaman for himself with his interest growing. "We are about to have a major problem on our hands." He said. He felt the inklings of weakness in his leg and immediately pushed himself off the wall and began leading Tadashi before they gave way. Alternating his weight between his legs and forward momentum was enough to keep him going for a while.

"What's wrong?"

"Zero." He said, and could feel the worried tension rising in Tadashi at the mention of his name. He could picture the expression on his face right now, he didn't have to look. "It was some kind of interference that broke up that call, I sent Blues into find out what it was and I lost contact with him too. That's when the computer I was using suddenly got infected."

"So that's what was causing the interference?" Tadashi's face narrowed into a concentrated expression and he looked upward habitually. "That doesn't sound right. Nothing like that has ever happened before when we encountered the virus. And to interfere with a wire connection?"

"It wasn't he virus doing it, it was Zero. When Blues got in range of him I lost contact with him, and when Zero disappeared the interference was-"

"Wait, disappeared?" Tadashi interrupted. He shifted one of Megaman's arm over his shoulders and paused to retain his balance, Megaman began leaning towards the right and stumbling more then usual, but Tadashi managed to keep him upright. "Tell me what happened."

"I'm not completely sure what myself, Blues told me that Zero looked in pretty bad shape and he was losing it, he was in pain too. He was really explicit about Blues saying back, and Blues said when he got close he was attacked by...a ghost or something? Then the second time he was hit by some kind of energy, he couldn't stop Zero from leaving. You ever see Zero attack like that?"

"No." Tadashi shook his head, his voice was distant and he was lost in a sullen thought.

Enzan glanced back at him, silent, hoping that something would come from those thoughts, some kind of explanation, some kind of plan, an idea even. Regretfully it became clear that it wouldn't happen. "That virus is spreading fast, I tried to contain it in the control room but it just sprang up someplace else, probably by Zero. If he can just pop up anywhere there's really no point in trying to quarantine it to one part of the system, so I cut all land lines, put up a fire wall and everyone's just trying to use what we can."

"I see."

"You know..." Enzan paused inauspiciously, keeping his eyes strait ahead and his tempo unbroken. "If Zero really has...you know...and he leaves, there's no way to stop what's going to happen."

"I know."

"So...I hate to ask you this, but what kind of measures are we willing to take?" Enzan felt guilty asking such a thing, knowing he was only implying that the the only measure that would be to far is to kill Zero. At least Blues wasn't around to hear him ask this, he knew the navi would protest.

"...I'm not sure." Tadashi didn't want to think about it, he wasn't one to shy away from the hard subjects, but there were too many issues, too many circumstances to even think about that now, at lest for him it was. "We'll need to see how this plays out, for now the most important thing is to find a way to contain him. Your going to have to shut down the power."

"The power to what?" Enzan inquired.

"Everything, all the systems infections for sure. At the best we'll catch Zero in one of these systems and he wont be able to do anything, at the least we can box him into a system and deal with him there." Tadashi placed his foot forward to catch himself when Megaman stumbled and fell forward, "Come on Megaman, you can do this..." He managed to catch Megaman, then he pulled Megaman forward until Megaman managed to grumble and reclaim a bit of footing with sloppy steps. He was obliviously dragged forward. "The infection is the reason the helipad door wasn't working right?"

"There's a lot more doors then that not working."

"I was afraid of that. You have to get some one down to the fuse boxes to control the power manually, any remote triggers aren't reliable. "

"There's a problem with that." Enzan finally lead Tadashi down the final corridor, to a door in the middle of the hall. Seeing that Tadashi had his hands full with Megaman, he began prying the door open. "How are we supposed to get in contact with those guys? Whenever Zero's around there's interference, and since he can move wirelessly then he'll effect radios too, and cell phones, there's no way to tell them what to do."

"I know." Tadashi staggered into large offices filled with separate rings of connected computers, file cabinets and desks. He sat Megaman down on a chair, happy to be rid of the weight. "Man your heavy." He mumbled to himself, rubbing his shoulder. "In that case your going to have to be the one to go down there, Blues is the only navi around that his strong enough to stand up to Zero if he comes along. And you both the systems well enough to decide what's important enough to take off line first... Where is Blues?"

"Control room." Enzan said, watching Megaman's lethargic drifting being constantly interrupted by something enough to keep the former navi at lest partly awake. "Come on, there are some hard copies there that you might need, and you might as well explain the plan to him too." Enzan, grudgingly, didn't bring any along because he wasn't sure what Tadashi could use, and because he wouldn't have been able to carry the load anyway.

It wasn't more then a moment after the two of them had left the lab and reached the control room, Tadashi had been rushing for a more expedient return, that one of what would be many instances of Zero took place. The dormant doors revved back to life, they slid shut and locked with a loud click, every last one of them that were operational had been sealed. "What the hell?" Enzan ran to the door and tried to pry it open, he had no luck, every time he attempted to unlock it, it was just locked again before he could finish, it was endless.

"What is it?" Tadashi asked, still combing through one of many stacks of binders, folders and books around the station Enzan had been working at for the last two days.

"The doors, they won't open." Enzan wasn't slow in devising a cause, his mind immediately jumped to one thing. "Zero, he must be messing with the automated systems. We're stuck!" He growled.

"You can't be serious." Blues snorted. He was frustrated, he was angry, and this didn't help. "So how are we gonna get down the fuse boxes? As a matter of fact, what about Megaman?"

Tadashi lifted his head. "He is still back in that room isn't he...Blues, is there anything you can do?"

"Not from here with everything infected, I'm not sure if I can get to a place where I can do something...You guys should probably start looking for another way out." Blues advised before he left his PET.

Tadashi cursed to himself, this was going to be more trouble then he had anticipated. "At the lest I have to get back to Megaman..." He sighed, adjusting his glasses without realizing he was doing anything at all.

! - ! - !

Red...

Megaman stared blankly with half lidded eyes, so tired he couldn't hope to move if he wanted too.

Red...everywhere, a strange red glow surrounded him, he couldn't see past it.

He was so sleepy he couldn't tell the waking world from the one beyond consciousness, even when Tadashi had dragged him along, even when he felt the torrent of wind and rain soaking him out side, even when Lan had been screaming for him to wake up. The world was simply one large hallucination, all of it was simply red...red... "..."

Even as he was over taken with this new lethargy, not even realizing that he was sleepy or anything existed beyond this red. The only thing he knew was the familiar feeling of emptiness, of being incomplete, of missing something, of needing that something on a deeper level then he could control consciously.

Red...Red...numbers.

He squinted, he could just make out numbers, lines and lines of revolving numbers . What did they say?...201102?

Megaman drew in a gasping choking breath, his eyes widened, and he sat upright as if a jolt of electricity had run through his body."!" He heaved in air, looking around frantically, trying to figure out where he was, and why he was here. It was frightening, leaving him nearly panic stricken. Logic took over and rationale thought returned. "Where am I..." Megaman stood up slowly, and surveyed the room cautiously. His first move was logically to investigate beyond the confines of this room and check the door.

Locked.

Where was Lan?

"This place..." He spoke aloud, wondering around the room . "It looks like something that would be where Tadashi works, or Enzan's island." Of those options he believed the only place he could have been was somewhere in the building where Tadashi's lab resided. But why was the door locked?...He decided to wait for a moment, maybe then things would become clearer, maybe Tadashi would come in or something.

! - ! - !

"Blues is right, you can't do anything from here. We have to find some place else." Tadashi said.

"What do you mean some place else?" Enzan grunted with frustration. "There are two doors in and out, and they're both locked down."

Tadashi folded his arms and looked up thoughtfully. He felt nervous, his stomach churned and his throat became dry. Zero...what was happening to him? He need to see him, he needed just to be able to speak to him, he couldn't be gone, he couldn't..."What about that vent?" Tadashi pointed up to the ceiling where the metal shutter barred aces to the metal passage way, "Is there anymore of those in this room?"

"..." Enzan looked up, his frustration dissipating a bit at the thought of a new found hope. "Yeah there is." He nodded, pointing to the far side of the room where one lay near a corner against the floor, it didn't push air in, it circulated it out. "Since it's so small I guess I'm the only one who can go through. Doesn't matter though, Blues should be able to open the doors from the outside."

"Perfect."

Blues returned to the P.E.T with no luck, and he hadn't expected any. "I couldn't do anything, everything is blocked off and-"

"Yeah I know." Enzan interrupted. "New plan, were going through the vent, you should be able to do it from the outside right?"

"Yeah sure."

Tadashi had already begun prying away the shutter and then wrenching away the filter. This was gonna be a long day, he could feel it like a wave of fatigue after a long shift of work. He hadn't felt this nervous in longer then he could remember, it was so strong, it felt a lot like fear only he wasn't afraid...well, maybe a little, not for himself anyway. "Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah sure." Enzan dropped down to his knees, putting his P.E.T on his waist and crawled into the ventilation shaft. It was a tight fit, Enzan barely had enough room to move his arms let alone pull himself forward, but he managed to reach a divide and pull forward, gripping whatever he could slip his fingers into until he reached another gate. And with a strong amount of pushing he managed to remove the gate and pull his way out into the hallway. Immediately afterwords he moved to the nearest door and connected to a port. It took less then a minute before he heard the click of a control room door unlocking under Blues' administration.

"I couldn't unlock all of them." Blues told him, "Too many broken paths, but I did managed to get the stairs and the room Megaman is in."

Tadashi pushed the door open halfway and slipped through, a folder in hand and a glowering look in his eyes. "This doesn't feel right." He announced, looking around the ominously empty and silent halls. "I feel like I should be trying to find Zero, but at the same time I feel like I should be doing something about Megaman."

"Don't worry about it right now." Enzan said, attempting to reassure him. "Fix Megaman, we'll handle Zero the time being." He replaced the P.E.T on his waist and leaned against the wall, the strain in his legs were growing noticeable. He wasn't sure if he could make it that far. He'd have to check the doors, let out as many people as he was able find on his way. "...Where's Lan?" He finally asked.

"I made him go back to the hospital." Tadashi said.

"Is he-"

"Don't worry." Tadashi pushed off the wall and began to backtrack "He's alright... be careful."

"You too."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Tadashi?" Megaman lept to his feet when the previously locked door suddenly was pried open and Tadashi appeared there, just as he anticipated.

"Megaman?" Tadashi froze with a split second of disbelief, but he quickly stirred himself out of it with instant curiosity. "Are you ...alright?" He reached out and cuffed Megaman's chin, leaning in closely enough to study his face. Then he pulled down Megaman's bottom eye lids lightly with his thumb and peered into the blue orbs, finding complete, though questioning, focus where there had been complacent lifelessness.

"Uh...yeah." Megaman nodded, his eyes shifted nervously from side to side. "Where are we? What happened?"

"This is Enzan's island...Do you remember anything from the last few hours?"

"Umm...not really...am I suppose to?"

Tadashi wasn't sure if should have been alarmed at this, to Megaman's credit he had been just about sleep through the entire ordeal. "Is there anything you can tell me, anything you heard, anything you felt?"

"..." Megaman sat down again, he head slowly fell and he stared at the ground, searching through the reaches of his rather inconsistent memory. "Where's Lan?"

"The hospital, don't worry about him." No, Lan wasn't the one that he needed to worry about as of yet. "Megaman."

"Yeah, I'm still thinking..." Megaman was silent for a few seconds, then he spoke again, his voice soft and still distant in his thoughts."I remember a lot of red...I saw red...maybe the whole time...and I also remember I stared seeing those virus numbers...I remember feeling that weird empty feeling, that I remember well."

"Hmm..." Tadashi lifted his hand to his chin and looked up thoughtfully in his usual habit. Then he began to explain all of the glitches Megaman had had from when Lan had brought him to him until their trip to here, none of which peeked any memory of it from Megaman. Then he asked Megaman something completely different. "What about Zero? Do you feel anything about him?"

"Huh?" Megaman didn't understand the question, or why it was a question at all. "What do you mean?"

"Any where during the course of those hallucinations did you happen to see anything vaguely referencing to Zero?"

"Besides the numbers...no...I guess the red could be." Megaman tilted his head questioningly, having had the feeling for quite a while something was off with Tadashi, that he was distracted. Now he was sure. "Why?"

Tadashi, with much regret, explained everything that happened with Zero. Much to Megaman's horror. With a burst of worried energy he exclaimed that he had to help, Tadashi however... "Don't be so hasty, I need to do something about you first?"

"But Zero-"

"How could you possibility help Zero if you can't help yourself? What if something...no, I mean, _when_ another glitch comes up what good will you be to him then?" Tadashi took hold of Megaman's shoulders and pushed him back down. "Besides, we have to work fast, we don't know how long we''ll have access to this data, the key to fixing you for good could be in this room. And if I figure out what's causing your problem I'm sure I'll find Zero's problem."

"But..." Megaman looked in to Tadashi's eyes and saw the futility of his argument...Then he looked away with anger and frustration. "Fine." He scoffed.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Damnit...I can't go any farther." Enzan announced, with much resentment, he couldn't push himself to take another step. Enzan caved and he stumbled forward down the stairs. He reached out and grabbed onto the railing to catch himself, managing to ease himself down to the landing. He leaned back against the wall and pulled his knees in close to his chest, trying ease away the pain sapping his strength. "Damn it hurts..." He hissed in pain, cursing countless obscenities to himself, he was keenly aware of their time constraints with each profanity.

"You alright?" Blues asked.

"Sorry about this." He said softly. Above all else he felt guilty, knowing just how badly Blues wanted to, at the very lest, do something to effect the situation, but mainly he wanted to out trying to find Zero. And Enzan, incapacitated as he was to begin with, had given out on the stairs between floors B1 and B2.

"Don't apologize to me, wait as long as you need to."

Even under these circumstances he would have been able to make it alright had he not taken so many detours. He couldn't simply leave his staff locked in their respective areas, if something happened, say a fire, then they would have been stuck. Most of them anyway, there were a notable few who hadn't been in places utilizing such tough doors, or had managed to unlock the doors on their own. Enzan released a few people he'd come across, charging them with the task of releasing everyone else and spreading the word of the virus infection, as well as relaying that he wanted them to make sure all connections outside this island, land or otherwise, should be cut of blocked immediately if not already done so.

So it wasn't a complete waste of diminished stamina. "Damn, we are at such a disadvantage here. Maybe if this place wasn't still so messed up from before, or at least if we had our entire network we could do more then this."

"At least there are less places he can go." Blues said. With a sizable portion of the island had been charred beyond use or sunken at the bottom of the ocean, mainly one of two production sights, that would be one less place to worry about. "The fuse boxes, they're all scattered around aren't they? I mean they're under each wing right?" That meant to reach them all Enzan would have to circle around half the island from underneath, a very daunting task.

Enzan sighed and nodded. "Yeah..." And then began feeling throughly worth less. He wasn't sure if he could make a lap around this entire building. Damnit, He should have told someone else to do this, but he'd been so focused on rescue and damage control he'd completely forgotten. "I'll make it." His eyes narrowed and he reached up and took hold of the metal railing, pulling himself up shakily to his feet.

"Enzan, maybe it's too soon for you to-"

"I'll make it." Enzan, with a tight hold on the railing, descended the stairs in a short burst of speed and pushing through the door, and nearly stumbling down a second set of metal stars beyond. He grabbed the railing to stop himself before he tumbled into the 2 feet of water that had somehow pooled over the concrete floor "What the hell?"

"I'm assuming the drains on the surface were damaged too." Blues suggested "All of that rain must be gathering here instead."

"Why the hell didn't anyone tell me about this!" He shouted, the annoyed, frustrated anger that so often plagued him returning.

"You don't have anyone down here."

"Great..." Enzan sighed and stepped into the water, shuttering at the frozen chill that now surrounded his shins. It wasn't all bad though, it dulled some of the pain away. "There has to be a hole or something, there's no way just the drains alone could fill this floor with water. How far is the first box?"

"Not very, just keep going down this hall."

The halls on floor B2 were more like wide tunnels, the only use for this floor was storage and maintenance, pipes lined the ceiling, thick wires with metal casing along the walls. There were a few steel boxes along the walls, all of which far to heavy to float in the water. There were multiple fuse boxes for each wing, for the control room and surrounding offices there were about 4 lined up in a neat row.

"En...zan..."

"?" Enzan heard the static in Blues' voice and immediately pried the P.E.T off of his waist. "Blues?"

Blues' voice was a little clearer this time. "That had to be Zero."

"Yeah, I know." Enzan pried open the box and skimmed through the rows of switches until he found a small port. There was one even here, but of course there would be with the remote systems embedded inside, this would be so much easier if he could just do this from the control room. "Why would he be here?" He wondered, plugging the P.E.T into the port.

"I'm not sure it means anything, he might just be moving randomly." Blues said, before he left the P.E.T and was immediately lost in interference.

"Good luck..." Enzan sighed and leaned against the wall, listening to the sound of the water sloshing all around him, he could hear the distant sound of rain echoing through the tunnels, solidifying his clams of a hole. Standing there alone, surrounded it cold water, he began to realize how creepy this place was. 'Damn I should have found someone else.. '

! - ! - !

The system was a far cry from normalcy, Blues had never been to this particular part of the network, even though it connected directly into the control room, but he knew it wasn't suppose to look like this. Many parts of the ground, the walls, many surrounding structures were glowing a hellish red, slowly being swallowed by the glow as the virus progressed. Many parts of the ground were spotted with a red so bright it seemed that there was a burning flame underneath them about to explode or eat through. He looked up and he saw that same red glow covering the sky, pulsing like a living heart, inching closer with every beat. The sky was literally falling, no matter how slowly, it was a terrifying to watch and the sight filled Blues with an anxious, ominous dread, he felt the constraints of time much more strongly then they actually where.

This subdirectory was being infected.

Blues shuttered and bolted forward, running as fast as he could, searching for Zero at a frantic pace. It was hot, it made him feel as if hell was raining down on him slowly. "Zero!" He called out. "Zero! I know your here somewhere!"

The virus wasn't really red, it had no color. It's appearance came from the antivirus programs that had copy protected every file, access was given based on the individual credentials of the user identified by their password. The passwords Zero had gained access to that worked, the files formally write protected were infected immediately, the rest took far longer, in constant conflict with the antivirus program. But the program had few effective ways to combat the '201102' virus, current versions had no way to stop or even defend against it. The best it could do was write-protect it's files, and even that was slowly being over written. Unless a program could be device to stop such a virus, it was all only a matter of time.

This system would crash soon, and all of it's redundancies would topple soon after.

"Zero! Come on dammit, talk to me, attack me, do something! Just get here!" Blues shouted out to the red sky and listened to his voice echo. He had one and only one advantage of Zero, the fact that he caused interference when he was near, anything that transmitted wirelessly even on a basic level bombarded everything else, scrambling signals. Blues felt a sudden reduction in the heat being emitted all around by a spot of shade that seemed to simply appear and immediately dived forward away from the spot where he stood. Blues rolled and quickly pivoted back with his own sword drawn just in time to see a ghostly image of a diving Zero slashing at the spot where he had stood, before disappearing in blur of static. "What the hell?"

Blues looked around nervously, trying to determine whatever that could have been. He saw it much more clearly this time, aside from the transparency it had been like Zero in every way, except for the face, the eyes more accurately. The face had been blank, but the eyes had been wide and unfocused with the most haunting look. It had appeared from nowhere, and disappeared just as quickly. "It came from that way..." Blues peered back towards the way he had come, the path was bare and empty, but he kept going despite that, running as fast as he could.

He got about a hundred feet from where he began from, evading red spots and impassable ways, when he witnessed a small spot of static appear before him. The space around it seemed to bend in towards it as if it was a vacuum drawing in reality and then it another ghostly likeness of Zero shot towards him full speed. "!" Blues lifted his sword defensively to block, the inevitable slash passed right threw his sword with no problem and sliced painfully into the armor around his collar bone. 'What is that...' A shaken and startled, Blues looked around uneasily, waiting to see if another attack would come, for a ghost it certainly carried all of Zero's strength.

Blues persisted, running along the broken direction that was fading away more and more, he feared that he'd have no way back at this rate. At a random interval the static reappeared and the haunting projection shot towards him and attacked. "The hell with this!" Blues' growled, he didn't shy away from it this time, with his reflexes taunt he drew his sword and thrust it into ghost. Only to find his sword simply passed right through doing no harm, the ghost's sword had far more effect on him, slashing his hard across the chest and sending him stumbling backward with pain. "Damnit!" He growled in frustration , what was going on!

Angrier still, Blues ran on, coming upon a place where the path was nearly depleted. The red glow was like a wall of fog that crept slowly, erasing everything it swallowed up. His heart began to pound particularly hard then, the uneasiness made him fearful to go past it at all. He assumed the interference was growing worse as he went because he felt the heat growing with every step forward. The temperature leveled off at one point and Blues stopped instinctively, "He's gotta be close..." He mumbled to himself, and his thoughts were correct, with a simple glance he finally found Zero. The seemly fully bore virus stood with his blade plunged into the ground, the air around him wavering intensely from the heat being generated, Blues could feel the hot air blowing past him from where he stood. He could tell immediately that he in the process of infecting "Stop that!" He shouted, spanning the few feet between them with a quick burst of speed with his fist drawn back and throwing a heavy blow to the side of his face. Zero fell backwards away from the sword and hit the ground, the wavering heat ceased.

Zero sat up, but was immediately forced back down by Blues' weight pinning him to the ground. "Hey! Hey! Listen to me!" He shouted, "I know your in there someone where!" Zero lifted his head and Blues impetuously slammed his own into Zero's, knocking him back off balance at his own expense. "Listen to me!"

He caught a glimpse of his eyes and he'd never forget them, they were a particular focal point now because they always had been. It was so strange to see the blue orbs, usually so full of energy and holding a wide gaze that took in all of the world in one look, now so piercingly cold and focused, though not on him it seemed. Zero looked as if he was completely oblivious to him, his eyes focused but never really on one thing, the only thing Blues was was something that obstructed his view. Blues felt all of Zero's muscles grow tense, and suddenly a burst of energy rushed up from underneath him, swallowing him painfully in the depths of it's torrent until he was forced to the top and flung away. "Uhff!" The air was knocked out of his lungs from the force of his landing, his eyes shot open wide with starving gasps and stinging pain lingering intensely over his entire body. He lifted his head to witness the beam of white energy spring up from underneath Zero like a geyser .

This was all looking very familiar.

"So that's...what you hit me... with before." Blues coughed out, clinching his chest as he reclaimed his fallen sword and stood to his feet. "I'm gonna...get through to you...if I gotta...break every bone...in your body..." He spat out, his eyes fierce with furry.

Zero reached up and took a hold of his sword, using it to pull himself up, then he slipped it out of the ground and moved forward wordlessly and aggressively. He thrust the sword at Blues and Blues slipped backwards out of reach, watching Zero's every move intently. Zero thrust the sword forward again in another sharp jab and Blues slipped to the side, his sword raised above his head with both hands clinched tightly around it and then slammed the bottom of the hilt down on the back of his head. "!" Zero reeled forward from the sharp blow, staggering a foot or two and quickly pivoting around.

Blues grunted and ran after him, just as he dawned on the virus he veered to the left out of the way of an overhead slash and came to a hard stop at Zero's side. Then he thrust his fist into Zero's stomach, only to feel the sudden buzz of electricity crackling in static streaks over his body. Blues immediately withdrew his fist with a hiss of pain, and reflexively dived backwards, the sudden rush of upward energy he sensed was coming just barely graced his body with a tingling sting. He landed roughly on his back and watched the geyser of white energy shoot into the air defensively swallowing Zero. 'Where the hell is all of this coming from? How is he using it?' Blues began to rethink his tactics, watching the energy disappear. He'd been reluctant about using his sword, despite his words he hadn't wanted to hurt Zero too badly, but if he could use that attack at will he didn't exactly want to touch him directly. He wasn't sure how to win but that was a sure way to lose.

Zero lifted his fist into the air, with a taunt delay to build energy it seemed, and pounded it to the ground in a thunderous strike. With a deafening explosion the ground erupted with a line of geysers, one after another in quick succession. One burst forth in front of Blues, then another shot up right underneath him before he had a chance to flinch from the first. "Uhfff!" He was swallowed in the center of a burning, stinging white energy, feeling the bruising force of it's blast against his body, throwing him backwards out of the energy's mist. Only to be struck by another eruption right behind him and knocked backward again. The hits came quick and hard, about 5 in a row before he hit the ground and slid to a stop.

"Damnit..." Blues clinched his chest and rolled on to his side, writhing in pain. "Where the hell did you learn that!" He shouted, forcing himself to keep from crying out. He forced his eyes open halfway and watched as Zero walked towards him with quick steps, his reserved, devoid demeanor was frightening to Blues, the sight of it threatened his hope that Zero could be saved, and it was weak as it is. "Your really starting to annoy me, you know that?" He got no response, not that he expected was.

Zero stopped a few feet away from Zero, his body crackling with electricity, lifted his foot and stumped down on the ground. Blues, who seemed to be nearly incapacitated before, sprang to his feet with lighting speed, and pushed forward with a speed not yet displayed in any fight with Zero. He easily evaded the attack, by the time the geyser erupted where he had been Blues had already closed the gap. He had a clear opening and took full advantage, slashing Zero across the stomach and causing him to keel forward, then dragged his sword up from the ground and ran it over his body in a fierce uppercut that lifted Zero off of the ground, cutting through his armor with a small spatter of telltale blue blood. Blues lept up after him, raising his blade above his head with both hands and smashing the bottom of the hilt down on to Zero's forehead with all of his strength.

In the end he still had been reluctant to use his sword..

Zero plummeted to the ground with a loud thump and Blues came right after, stumping his foot down hard, Zero quickly rolled over and pushed on to his feet. "Unnnrrrrr!" He stumbled backwards, merely an inch from falling, he dropped his sword and clinched his head. "Unnnggaaaa!" He screamed in pain, finally falling to the side and writhing in pain on the ground.

"Z-Zero?" Blues paused in confusion, uncertain... After a few seconds of standing idle he let his sword slip from his hands, not caring what might happen to him if he got close "Zero!" He ran over to him and dropped to his knees above him.

Zero bit down on his lip to quell the cries of pain and pried his eyes open, looking barely up at Blues. "Blues..."

"Zero, are you alright? What's wrong with you?"

"Get away from me." Zero forced out in a strained tone, curling slowly into a ball and clinching his chest. "You have to...get away from me-"

"Stop saying that Baka!" Blues growled in annoyment. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I don't know!" Zero shouted right back, it was all he could do to keep from screaming out at the top of his lungs. His entire body ached and there was a pressure inside of him that made him feel as if he'd burst apart. "I-I can't stop myself!"

"Then let me take you back to-"

"N-no! I can't go to Tadashi!" He adamantly protested. "I'll just infect everything! You have to kill me!" He said, his voice holding a desperation that it never had. There was no depression, there was no self loathing, only fear.

And that made Blues afraid, terrified even, because this time Zero might have actually been right. "No! Just let me help you. Whatever thing inside you is making you do this, we can fight it, if you come with me."

Zero didn't respond, he only stared up at Blues with tears forming in his eyes and a deeply longing, wishing, though futile look. "You don't understand..." He finally spoke, his voice choking with repressed sobs. "It's me, it's all me... It's like one minute I'm ok, then all of a sudden I'm different, I'm thinking different, I'm acting different, I want to do different things, there's nothing to fight!...Just do it! Just kill me...Damnit! It hurts!" Zero clinched his head again and curled in deeper, his entire body trembling.

"...So what, we can still figure out a way to fix it." Blues said.

"It's too late..." This time he spoke in depression. "I don't wanna do this anymore! Just kill me."

"No." Blues snorted. "What exactly are you tying to do?"

"I don't know..." Zero shook his head. "I just keep feeling the urge to infect stuff, not everything, just certain stuff I come across. I don't know. And I keep thinking...Megaman, some times...it can't be good, please just stop me before I do something to him."

"If that's what your worried about then your fine, you can't hurt Megaman, he's already half virus anyway, and you can't even get to him." Blues reassured him.

"No...That's the problem, he's already infected... Please! Just do it!" Zero's eyes widened and the pain increased until it felt as if his very soul was being torn about. "Do it! Do it now!" He shouted frantically, reaching up and grabbing Zero's shoulders. "Do it!"

"Zero! Hey, Hey calm down." Blues pushed against Zero's chest and pinned him back down to the ground.

Blues could hardly utter another word before the pain of electricity burned through his entire body from his hands and a hot fist slammed into the side of his face. His body convulsed from the shock and he fell backwards off of Zero, immediately he pushed blindly backwards out of the way, "!" He flinched and drew in a sharp breath when another geyser of white energy surged up from the ground, so close to him he could feel the heat radiating against his face. 'Where is he getting this energy from!' Blues pushed backwards and staggered on to his feet, picking up his sword. With out hesitancy he rushed forward while Zero was blind in the mist of that bright energy and slashed his sword into it, with the intent of striking the virus. It didn't work. He managed to cut about half an inch into the energy before the uprising rush threatened to tear the blade out of his hands and rip it apart. "!" Luckily the energy ceased before it could.

Zero's wings stretched out full span and he pushed upward with a burst of wind.

"Zero! Hey!" Blues ran towards him, but his words were to no avail, Zero was gone before he could do anything to stop him. "Damnit!" He'd never been so frustrated in his life, he'd found Zero but once again he hadn't been prepared. And what did he mean when he spoke about Megaman? What was causing Zero to act like this? Why was he in so much pain? Blues sighed, letting his sword nearly slip out of his hands, "You just had to be right didn't you Zero? Maybe if you wouldn't have been so hellbent on it..." He sighed.

"Blues?"

Blues lifted his head, Zero must have been completely gone if his reception with Enzan returned. "I'm alright. I didn't get him though."

"How does it look in there?"

Blues looked up at the falling sky and the fog like red walls sweeping in from the sides and swallowing up everything, including pathways. "Pretty bad."

"Well hurry up and get out of there, I'm gonna start cutting the power off."

"Yeah." Blues paused for a moment, a moment longer then he knew he should have. "Enzan, have you spoke to Tadashi?"

"Not since we left, why?"

"Zero said something strange about Megaman..."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Tadashi picked Megaman's shirt off of a nearby chair and tossed it to him, "I'm done for now." He called back on his way to a computer sitting on a counter top next to the door. He finished a complete work up on Megaman as best he could in this room, trying to find any new anomalies that might have caused the very strange string of glitches. Of course, he could find nothing, even with the scanners in this place.

"Did you find anything?" Megaman asked hopefully, he pushed himself off of the desk he'd been sitting on top of and replaced his shirt.

"Nothing." Tadashi shook his head disappointedly. He leaned on the counter and rested his head on one hand while the other hand ran over the keyboard with quick key strokes. "Not to much I can do in here, I'm gonna need to get to the production room where you were downloaded into that body."

"What good will that do?"

"Hopefully I can find a log of the transfer and maybe then I can see exactly where the virus is inside of you." Tadashi said, pausing to adjusted his glasses. He had once thought that the virus was had affected certain systems in Megaman's body, causing them to malfunction, he now concluded that this was incorrect. The problem was all in Megaman's consciousness, the problems were mental, and were affecting him physically. "I'm not gonna find the problem physically. Maybe if I can see where the virus is in your programing then I can figure it out why it's causing all those problems." It was better then sitting around waiting for Megaman to have another glitch. He was beginning to think that was the problem, he never had the chance to monitor Megaman while he was having one.

"...I still don't know how this is gonna help Zero."

"I don't know right now either but your gonna have to trust me, I'm sure of it."

Megaman looked away with a depressed longing, feeling an indecisiveness, and a guilt for leaving Lan, and for not being able to help Zero...He found it odd that he hadn't felt this guilt before...why hadn't he felt this guilt anyway? There was plenty of opportunity for it... "Um...Tadashi?"

"Yes Megaman?"

"You said the problem isn't my body, it's my head right?...Well, I think I've been feeling strange lately..." Megaman admitted.

Tadashi glanced over his shoulder, Megaman's choice of words peeking his interest. "What do you mean you think? How could you not know?"

"Well that's the thing, I guess it's that I haven't been feeling much of anything lately." Megaman rubbed the back of his neck and lifted his head, confusion in his eyes. "That's probably why I never noticed it till now...I'm not feeling things when I'm supposed too. It's like I'm not effected by anything anymore, I never cared what happened to me, I did at first, but as everything began to get worse and worse the less and less I cared. Shouldn't I be more worried now then ever? I known how bad it's getting and even now I should be worried about it but I'm not. I don't know if I'm even worried about Zero, I just know I should be." Megaman looked up thoughtfully, searching himself for something unknown to Tadashi. "I think if it keeps going like this I wont feel anything at all, something's telling me I should be scared but...I'm not...I don't know if that helps or not."

Tadashi nodded. "It might actually, It think I know where to start looking." Another similarity between Zero and Megaman, strange moods, one was being brought to an extreme, while the other was being dulled into indifference. "Don't worry Megaman, we'll figure this out yet."

Tadashi's cell phone rang and he lifted it to his ear. It was Enzan. "Enzan? Did you make it?" He asked, "What's that sound?"

"The whole place is flooded from all the rain, I'm stuck in 2 feet of water." Enzan responded grudgingly, clearly not happy about his current task. "We found Zero, Blues couldn't catch him, but he did say something strange about Megaman. We don't know what it means though."

"Well he's fine for the moment. What about Zero, how was he acting?"

"Before he left, Blues said he started acting more like himself. Zero told him one minute he was alright, then he started thinking and feeling differently and began doing all of this. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Yes it does actually, it could help me with Megaman. Is the production wing open? I need to get there."

"Wait...Your not there?" Enzan asked, a slow concern slipping into his voice.

Tadashi knew immediately when he said that, that something bad would ensue. "No, I'm still in Research, why?"

"I'm looking at the meter under the fuse box and I'm seeing power usage right now. Everything there is shut down because we couldn't possibly be in production right now, no one is in there...Wait a minute, these readings are pretty high...the only way the could be this high is if-"

Tadashi dropped his head and sighed deeply, "The production process is active." He silently cursed to himself, he didn't think of this! His primary concern had been the virus's spread, he didn't even consider this possibility. "Can't you turn off the power from there and stop it?"

"No I can't, it's a security measure, the damage would be catastrophic to the navis and the bio-androids if the power went out in the middle of production, I can shut off back up generators but the only fuse box to the main power supply is inside the incubation room."

"Well then how did he managed to do this?"

"I don't know, he probably infected the whole thing system. There's no way to monitor every system with all the damage, the control room's not even working."

"We can still stop this right?" Tadashi asked. "Blues can go up and open the doors, he might even find Zero again, and I can shut off the power." With the entire production system possibly infected, that would be the only way to do it.

"Yeah, you better hurry." Enzan said, Tadashi could hear Enzan sloshing around in the water with each step. "Oh and Tadashi, the meter says this power usage has been sustained since 6, production doesn't take that long, if that's true then the Zero might already be in the incubation stage."

"I guess we'll figure that out when I get up there." Tadashi sighed. "You keep working on the power, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. " Tadashi hung up and returned the phone to his pocket. He was about to relay all of this to Megaman, but it seemed there was no need. "Megaman-"

"I know." Megaman said "Let's go."

! - ! - !

Enzan shoved his phone back into his pocket and began pushing forward through the darkness, listening to the sound of water being kicked around with each step. His breathing was labored and his pace slowed, the water seemed to be offering more and more resistance against him. "You know..." He said, pausing to breath. "We could manage to trap Zero there, it's not like he could go anywhere."

"That can't be true." Blues said. "I just fought him, how can he been in the production room and down here in the basement at the same time?"

Enzan reached out blindly until he felt the wall against his palm and pushed his way forward toward the dim light ahead, not that any of it helped him navigate around his current position. "I'm sorry to say that we might not be dealing with the same Zero." Enzan said, and immediately regretted speaking about it in such a curt, hopeless manner, he was still getting used to trying to be optimistic, his naturally pessimistic side slipped out from time to time. "Or rather..." He scrambled to think of another explanation that was a bit more hopeful. "Maybe it's not him in the production room, he's just controlling it remotely. Like he did those cameras."

"Tch, maybe if we knew what he he would be trying to accomplish in doing that I'd believe it." Blues snorted. "We're not dealing with that mindless virus anymore, there's something he's trying to do."

Enzan felt the clatter of his foot hitting against a steel crate and a splash of up turned water soaking his left knee, and he silently cursed to himself for his lack of night vision. "Well..." He took in a deep breath of the cool, moist air and leaned on the steel crate he nearly tripped over, his legs felt weak again, to the point where they trembled under his weight if he stood still. The only thing keeping him upright was the fact he alternated his weight when walking. "I tried."

"Yeah..." Blues nodded, wordlessly bidding a thanks for the concerned effort. "We don't have a choice in this right?"

"In what?"

"Shutting off the power, if we do that while he's going through production, who knows what it could do to him." Blues said, speaking in a soft, reluctant tone, it was foreign for him to speak like this, it felt uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but he's probably already gone through production by now, or very close too it. At this point we could corrupt him or do nothing at all."

"Damn..."

"It's not hopeless." Enzan pushed off of the box and pushed forward with a burst of speed, slashing loudly through the water with quick steps. "If you drag him out of there before the power goes, no harm done, we can even trap him when the power goes...of course you'd be stuck with him."

"I'll live." Blues said discardingly. "That thing he said about Megaman still bothers me, he said the problem is that Megaman is already infected, what is that supposed to mean."

"He might be able to effect him some how." Enzan shrugged. "Or he might be overestimating things, Megaman's been fine before, he's probably fine now."

"Probably."

Enzan stumbled to the stairway that lead upstairs and little more then clasped, feeling the pain starting return to his legs. "You should be able to get to production from this port." Enzan rolled on to his back and laid a hand on his rapidly rising and falling chest, the port in which he spoke was a port connecting to the automatic lock for this door. Enzan reached up and connected it to his P.E.T

"...Are you sure this is alright?" Seeing Enzan like this made Blues uneasy about leaving him. The slow quell in his stomach had risen to full on fear. "Leaving you here like this?"

"Blues the only thing you can do for me now is to stop Zero."

"I can't do that if your dead."

"Tch." Enzan smirked. "I'll be fine, I'll be damned if I die in a flooded basement."

"Enzan..."

"Don't worry about me. I'm gonna cut off all the power and I'm gonna isolate this virus, then I'm gonna burn every damn server myself. Alright."

"I remember _someone_ was in a similar state of mind when they left the hospital." Blues snorted. "It didn't end up so well did it?"

"I can do this Blues, I'm telling you I'll make it. It may take me a little longer then I want, but I can do this." Enzan said, his voice holding a resolute tone, a small smile remaining on his lips. "You just make sure you get Zero back. You don't need me, you'll be fine on your own. Your strong, you'll make it."

Blues sighed, he didn't respond immediately, but eventually he nodded. "Good luck Enzan." And then he left.

Damn it was creepy down here alone.

Enzan grabbed a hold of the railing and pulled himself up right. "1 down, 10 to go." It looked like he'd be stuck in this basement for a while.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

'Come on! Don't just leave me here...' Lan groaned, laying stretched horizontally across the bed, his legs hanging over the side and his head cast down over the other. His eyes rolled upward and stared at the phone, wishing that it would ring, wishing that it would be his father, or Megaman, or Enzan on the phone with good news, with bad news, with any news! "Ring! Ring!" He shouted, pausing hopefully, but only gaining silence in return.

There was a knock on the door.

Lan lifted his head and glanced over his shoulder."Huh?"

Whoever was on the other side took that as a bidding to enter, It was one of the three doctors he'd met since he got here. It was a tall man with a chart under his arm and a pen in his hand. "Lan, how are you doing?"

"Alright I guess." Lan sighed, he turned away and averted his eyes to the window, watching another seemingly endless storm pass over outside his window with rumbling thunder and heavy rain. '10'clock already? Has it been that late already?' Lan glanced back over to the phone with another sigh, this late and still nothing? What were they doing?

The doctor went about the normal routine of a work up. Checking blood pressure, breathing, asking the normal bout of questions, each one receiving the monotonous response Lan always gave. However, at the end when he checked his breathing with that cold stethoscope around his neck, he had a foreboding look that left Lan with an unsettled feeling. "I've been trying to reach your father all morning and-"

"Don't bother, something came up." Lan said, sure that if no one had called him then it was only natural that they were also out of reach.

"Everything's ok I hope."

"Yeah me too." Lan sighed.

"Well I have good news for you Lan." The doctor sat on the edge of the bed, sitting the chart on his lap and slipping the pen back into his pocket. "Enzan submitted a sample of what he believed to be the cause of the filmy substance coating your lungs and stomach. It turns out he was right, and now that we have this we were able to synthesize a chemical that should break that film down before it can eat a way at you anymore."

Lan sat up right with a start, staring at the man with disbelief. "Y-You did! So...It'll make me better?"

"I have to warn you-" The doctor stated, and Lan's heart sank. "-that this won't help the damage already done, after your finished with the treatment you may need surgery to try and repair some of the blood vessels in your lungs and stomach that may have been ruptured. Have you had trouble breathing at all?"

Lan looked down at his chest timidly, "Well...yeah, kinda." He began to breath with his mouth more, his breath ran out much faster, the worst of it had to be when he slept and he'd wake up gasping for air every few hours because he didn't breath as much as. But he hadn't really noticed it.

"I have to inform you that if your current state deteriorates any farther you may need a lung transplant."

"W-what?" Lan stared at him with a speechless awe, he had to force himself to speak. "I-it's that bad!"

"It's possible, but don't worry, it may not come to that."

"..." Lan groaned in anxious dread, a new found fear slowly began to flood him that would haunt him indefinitely in every thing he did. He couldn't stop focusing on his breathing, feeling every contraction and expanding of his lungs in a way he never had, now afraid that some how his lungs would collapse and he wouldn't get a breath in other wise, or he'd drown in his own blood. If he had to die, he assumed it would be the latter way.

A nurse entered with a bag of opaque fluid in her hands, a white label was sealed on with handwritten names, dosages and instructions, making it seem as new as the man had said it was. "Now this hasn't exactly been tested, but we have done our best to rule out any drug interactions and external conflicts that may arise." Lan vaguely heard the man, his eyes were fixed on the nurse, watching her place the bag on the rack next to his bed, watching her connect it to his IV, watching it drip slowly into the clear line and make it's way into his arm with much more expediency then other medicines. He wondered how many times she had done this. "That being said you should anticipate side effects. Nausea, weakness, pain in the chest area mainly the lungs, there may be others, so you should tell the nurse right away if they should show up."

Lan pried his eyes away from the IV and back on to the doctor with a small nod. "Yeah, ok...can't you do anything about that?"

"We maybe able to manage some of your symptoms, but I'm afraid we can't do much more then that, you'll have to endure it."

"..."

The man reassured him and left the room, the nurse at his heels, shutting the door behind him. Lan slowly laid back on to the bed, staring out at the rain beyond his window. 'I wonder where Enzan is...' He wondered. 'He probably needs this more then I do...' Lan closed his eyes and laid dormant, wishing Enzan was here. He found himself clinching his pillow with a needy groan, oddly enough he didn't want to talk to anyone, he didn't even have to look at them, he just wanted to wrap his arms around them and hold them tightly to draw some comfort.

With his luck this was probably going to be hell.

! - ! - !


	25. Chapter 25 means to an end part 3

Chapter 24: Means to an end part 3

_...traffic looks well considering the weather, and speaking of the weather we end our morning show with a quick look at the weather. The high pressure that moved in last night looks as if it will be hanging over us at least until tomorrow morning ,we also are seeing the first line of these storm squalls coming in from the east, brining in the heavy showers effecting most of our viewing area. You can see there's a storm cell a little farther off over the ocean, it's a slow moving front so it'll take awhile to get here but you can expect too see showers for the rest of night. Your forecast for today, a big warm up into the high 60s, but again, expect strong showers. There's already a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the following counties..._

The elevator drifted to a stop and Tadashi watched the doors anxiously, trying his best to hide his tension from Megaman standing beside him. It probably was because he was nervous, but it was an eternity, it seemed, until he heard the small sound of a bell and watched the doors roll open. He breathed a sigh of relief at their safe passage and quickly stepped out, only to be barred access into the production wing by a pair of very sturdy looking doors. He shifted his glasses and tried the handle, even if he did know it wouldn't work already, then looked around inquisitively. "Blues, are you there?"

"Yeah." A voice radiated from some peripheral place. "Hold on, I'm opening it now."

Megaman looked around uneasily at the small space between the elevator and the door, he wasn't claustrophobic though he couldn't help being uncomfortable, with this door currently impassable and their only way back through an elevator. There was something unsettling about that, considering Zero might become inclined to infect whatever system was keeping it active. "Are you going to have to do this with every door?"

"Actually, this is the only one that's locked." Blues told him.

Tadashi and Megaman glanced at each other with shared perplexity, Megaman could only offer a shrug. "That's...odd."

"Alright, I got it." Blues said, the sound of his voice was followed by a loud click and the once impassable doors slid open into darkness.

The elevator doors rolled closed and the light it offered was taken away. "Blues, you think you can do something about these lights?" Tadashi asked, it would be hard to find his way around if he couldn't see his hands in front of his face.

"Oh, sorry about that." Blues apologized. With a resounding buzz, bright florescent lights flickered to life, revealing the clean white floors and hard white walls. There was an eerie silence that followed, nothing like the other floors, not even the murmur machinery could be heard, it was lifeless.

Before them lay a familiar forked path, multiple doors down each one of them. "Blues, which way is the production room?" Tadashi asked.

"Last door down the right side. But it's just machines, you'd have better luck trying the other side if your looking for the systems that control it."

"Is the fuse box in there?"

"I don't know where it is, you'll have to find that one for yourself." Blues told them regretfully. "Sorry."

Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck and surveyed both paths with uncertainty, "I guess I'll take the left side then."

"Alright." Megaman nodded, with one reaffirming glance back he began descending the right corridor while Tadashi took the remainder.

! - ! - !

"They really are unlocked." Tadashi curiously noted that fact as he pushed open the only door on the left side of his assigned corridor. There only two rooms here, two doors opposite each other, and it was beginning to look familiar to him. It wasn't long before he realized this entire area was a mirror to the other production wing that he nearly was incinerated in on the other side of the building. Judging by the fireball that had chased after him and Megaman within the confines of the service elevator shaft, all 3 levels of that production wing had been thoroughly destroyed, which was why this one felt so strange.

This was an incubation room. The floors shifted from hard, cold tile to hard, cold steel, red lights illuminated the room in an ethereal glow, the purpose for this type of light Tadashi did not know. The most distinguishing feature had to be the two rows of capsule like tanks, connected to the ceiling and to the floor by odd mounts, filled with the infamous green preserving fluid. There were 8 in all, but there was one in particular that was important, and when Tadashi saw it he forgot about everything he was supposed to be doing. There he was, Zero, in the center of tank number 7, curled into a small ball, his head lifted slightly and his eyes open, completely unaffected by the liquid. His gaze contentiously scanned the room outside the tank and quickly found the new object in the room, in an instant their eyes locked. Brown eyes watching in an astounded, uncertain gaze, racing with thoughts and questioning, while blue eyes behind a distorted green tent watched impartially, emptily, not holding a semblance of emotion, they seemed sleepy and detached in fact, as if they were a moment away from drifting closed and in to unconsciousness.

"!" Tadashi quickly spurred himself out of his seemingly entranced state and began looking around frantically for some type of control device, a terminal, something. Behind tank number 7 he saw a small counter, and a single computer terminal sitting behind it. 'Is it too late?' Tadashi slipped beyond the tank, shuttering as he felt Zero's eyes watching him until he moved out of his line of sight. He turned on the monitor and he was met with a program that seemed to be controlling and monitoring this incubation process. "Damn..." Tadashi came to the immediate realization that it was infected, the picture blurred, wavered and distorted at erratic intervals, but he could still make out the contents. It was the status for all of the tanks, and of course his eyes were drawn to no 7. 'I'm too late...' He realized, a nervousness quelling in his stomach with a nauseating tightness. Among all of the unrelated stats he saw one ominous line of text. Incubation status 99 percent.

"There has to be something I can do..." He began searching, for any file left that he could access in the production room, and too his surprise he was able to reach the network drive in question, even more surprising, from an infected computer. "This doesn't make any sense, why can I do this?" He mumbled to himself. He hadn't forgotten what he set out to do, the logs he was looking for, and he began probing every file he came across, searching for the inevitable records that had to exist. Until he hit a single folder and was immediately barred off by a mass of corrupted, infected data. "?" He came across others like it several more times until he finally paused in his search to look at the drive as a whole. What he discovered was even stranger. The drive was infected of course, but only in patches, only certain files and programs, all of them pertaining to the incubation stage Zero was currently in. The strangest thing had to be that the infections were self contained, not being held back by a quarantine or mindlessly replicating. "What in the world...Why is it leaving all of these key files alone? Why isn't it simply spreading?" Tadashi wondered.

He glanced over his shoulder questioningly at Zero as if he'd fined his answers there, ended up with an idea..."I wonder..." He opened up a search program for a single file, Zero.201102.exe. If he was wrong, the file would be in some transitional volume until the incubation process was over. No such luck, unfortunately he was right, and he found Zero in a different place, stuck right in the center of the automated process that controlled everything from the door locks to the lights for this wing. "Isn't that where Blues' is?" Was his first thought. The second was "Wait...if Zero is there...then how can he be here too?"

Trojan... "Of course!" Tadashi said with a sudden realization. "Your controlling the 201102 virus aren't you?" Tadashi looked back over his shoulder and spoke to Zero as if he would respond. He began to feel sorry for Zero, all of those times Zero had been so afraid he'd infect something and that he would set something horrific in motion when all the time Zero had the power to control it and had never known. "It's all remote, that's how your in two places at once?" So the question was it seemed, was what exactly was going in to this body? Was he simply controlling it from the system, or was he really in the body and controlling the system.

! - ! - !

Megaman pushed open the first door down his path and scanned over the room with sharp quick glances, it appeared to be just a break room and he knew he wouldn't find what he was looking for here. He pulled the door shut behind him and moved with quick steps to the room opposite it, pushing it open, finding the light switch, and peering inside with the same scrutiny as the room before it. There was a large terminal that, from the look of it, most likely controlled the production process, screens mounted all around most likely linked cameras in the next room. There was still no luck, and with a sigh he moved on to the last pathway, a set of steel doors barred with warnings.

With curiosity leading him, Megaman pried open the weighted door and slipped into the deep darkness on the other side, "I guess Zero wouldn't need light would he..." He shuttered when he heard the door slam shut behind him, sealing off the light from the hallway. "I can't see a thing..." Megaman slowly moved backwards, feeling out with his hands blindly until they came in contact with a hard, concrete wall, then he felt around along it until he felt a row of light switches and pushed them all up.

With a resoundingly loud string of clicks, the lights hanging 3 stories up on the ceiling flooded the room with an abundance of light. "Whoa..." Megaman looked upward in astonishment at the massive machine in front of him, the entire structure had to be 3 near stories itself, and it was a disorganized mass with no symmetry to it. It was hard to describe, the best that could be said was it wasn't just one large device, but many different ones conjoined together. He couldn't identify any of it except for a large tank embedded who knew how deep in the floor containing large volumes of the thick green preservation liquid.

There wasn't much room, only a thin path stretching the length of the room and groups of stairs to reach different machines. "It's gotta be around here somewhere." Luckily for Megaman what he searched for wasn't hard to spot, at the end of the left side was a steel box mounted on the wall.

Megaman took a single step, and felt as if he'd just fallen head first into a deep, dark void. '!' Megaman's eyes lost their focus and the world swirled blurred into an inconceivable mess, suddenly he saw some inconceivable, large, object rising upward from below and rushing towards his face. "What's..happening to--" He felt a hard impact slamming into his entire body and he found himself staring at the ground. His head was spinning, he didn't know which side was up. "No, no, no." He moaned weakly, "Not now! Not now!"

He had to that box.

! - ! -!

"Your here somewhere..." Blues grunted, looking up uneasily at the red sky that seemed to be in a slow, constant decent with a silent terror. Surrounded by the creeping red fog that how some how stopped in it's tracks and loomed on both sides him, striking a dreadful anxiety in at the very thought it could begin moving again and block his path, or worse. In some places the blood red, silent force was so far away that he could barely see it on the horizon, in others so much had been infected that he could barely find a path to squeeze through. As terrifying as this road was, Blues wouldn't allow himself to be detoured. "Just come out."

He never imagined he'd go through so much so much trouble for Zero's sake.

That bastard, Blues could feel a violent surge of anger rising in him, Zero was in for the beating of his life, he wasn't going to take it easy on him this time.

He was furious, he didn't feel sad, or worried anymore, if he did they had long since been consumed by the burning anger having been what ignited the blaze in the first place. "Fucking bastard." Blues half shouted, his eyes narrowed dangerously when a burst of static appeared before him and a ghost darted towards him, slashing. Blues leapt forward and easily rolled underneath it's blade, fluidly rising to his feet and dashed forward. He still didn't quite figure out what those things were. "What are you doing, hiding!" Blues shouted in frustration.

And almost as if responding to his call, (probably not considering Zero wasn't exactly as responsive as he used to be), Zero was behind him using a completely inane stealth that nearly caught Blues off guard. Blues paused, as angry as he was, and stood there, studying Zero hopefully. One look in his eyes and he could tell he wasn't there, this wasn't Zero, this thing wasn't even alive as far as he could tell, going about whatever it's intention was with a cold, calculated precision, reflexively taking action against anything, such as Blues, as though it was simply another obstruction. His eyes didn't even focus on him, they were always looking past him at something Blues couldn't see. Blues sighed and raised his sword, "I wish I knew what your always looking at..."

Zero bolted forward with a definite persistence in his movements, just as he dawned on Blues he lifted his sword above his head and slashed down on him hard. Blues lifted his sword and easily blocked, lifting his foot and sending a sharp kick to Zero's abdomen. Zero's hand darted down and caught his leg before he could make contact, then with a sharp jerk Zero tossed Blues into the air.

There were a few helpless, weightless, voiding seconds of tension as his body moved through the air, all he could do was tense and brace himself dreadfully. "!" Blues landed on his back hard and slid along the ground at a speed that made the friction feel like fire on his skin. 'Where he hell did that strength come from!' Blues, with a tight grip on the hilt, plunged his sword into the ground and came to a quick stop. "!" The second he saw Zero's fist strike the ground Blues pulled his sword out and rolled hastily to the side, slipping out of the range of a geyser of white energy that erupted from his previous spot. Blues jumped on to his feet just in time to intercept an attacking Zero, blocking his thrusting sword and with a swipe hard enough to knock Zero's guard off balance then sent a hard punch to Zero's face, causing the virus to stumble backwards.

Even then Zero's eyes never changed, even in pain they still peering right through Blues as if he wasn't there. "That look creeps me out you know that?" He said with a small laugh at the turmoil going around inside his head. It hurt. Blues couldn't believe it, it actually hurt to see Zero like this. It felt strange, foreign and frightful now that the light and childish energy had left his and hadn't been replaced with anything.

Zero recovered himself and sprang into the air, reversing his grip on the weapon and stabbing it downward on to Blues with his quick decent. The navi wasn't fast enough to evade or defend, the blade slashed down across his body and Zero landed on one knee before the newly stunned Blues. Returning his hold on the blade to normal, Zero rose with a fierce uppercut, slashing Blues with enough force to lift his body off the ground a over a foot and throw him backwards. Zero finished by stomping down hard on the ground, and a line of successive geysers slammed into Blues before he could touch the ground, his fall was prolonged as the geysers slammed into him from bellow carried him back farther and farther with each strike until he'd been hit by 5 of them and he finally fell. "Unnn..." Blues cringed in pain, clinching his chest tightly trying to keep from screaming.

He never knew Zero had so much power, he never thought he was so strong. "I'll admit..." Blues called out, listening to Zero's quick footsteps racing towards him. "You hit pretty hard." Blues took in a deep breath, then with one quick motion he rolled onto his stomach and threw his foot back, kicking the approaching Zero in the legs and sending the virus stumbling to the ground beside him. "But not hard enough!" Blues growled furiously as he jumped on top of Zero, gripping his neck tightly with one hand in a strangle hold and pounding into him with hard punches with the other. "Snap out of it you little bastard!" He yelled. He was fully intent on beating him back into coherency.

He got about 5 hits in when he felt hot, streaks of electricity burning up from Zero's body and into him. "!" Blues hastily fell off and rolled out of range, reclaiming his sword on the way.

For a brief second he found himself flat on his back, staring up at the red sky slowly descending on him, and he suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to laugh, for no conceivable reason. Blues climbed to his feet, a small smirk on his face. "Your not gonna say anything to me are you?" He said out loud, watching Zero intently. He could remember very clearly all of those times where he thought Zero was incapable of shutting up, like a child in need of constant stimulation. Now he couldn't get him to look at him strait let alone speak. It was funny in a horrible way.

! - ! -!

Tadashi printed out the logs for Megaman's processing, a formidable 20 pages long, and stacked them all together neatly. Had he had the time he had the time, or had the circumstances not been so unique he would have stopped to look at them. Instead he merely turned around and stared at Zero floating in that tank ominously, folding the bulk of papers in half and slipping them in the back of the waistband of his pants. "Zero...I'm so sorry..." He said aloud. He'd tried so hard to think of a way to make this right, to find the cause of this. He'd promised Zero that he would find away to fix this. And now things are so out of control...he couldn't help but think of how Zero's last sane thoughts must have been how he'd been right in the end, how guilty and tormented he must have been. Tadashi slowly readjusted his glass, and took paced steps around to the front of the tank and into Zero's line of sight, still thinking, still trying to contemplate some way at the very lest stop it.

He could still remember the time Zero had said he didn't want a body, that it would be too much trouble..."I promised you that we could fix this...maybe if I had had more time." Tadashi sighed, clinching his eyes shut and pounding his head against the glass in frustration. It was very thick glass. "I'm sorry." He had to apologize again, this time for the thoughts he was thinking. He apologized for contemplating what he might have to do to him, even by thinking the very thought that they might actually have to destroy Zero he felt immensely guilty, as if he was betraying him. "How can I possibly stop it now?" Tadashi took another look around the room, though with more depth than the last, in the end he came up with no fuse box. But what good would it do at this point?

There was suddenly a loud beep and the glow of the red light and the illumination of the monitor all went dormant, '!' Tadashi flinched at first, before he realized what had just happened. "Megaman must have found it."...He should have been relieved, but he was unsettled by the fact that he could still see. There was a small glow coming from the single active tank, a light somewhere underneath the fluid illuminating the entire inside of the capsule. He also realized that the loud beep he heard wasn't related to the sudden power failure when he saw Zero slowly uncurl and stretch out to full length, floating limply, almost lifelessly. He began to float to the top, but a flurry of bubbles poured out of his mouth and began to drift back down towards the bottom. His eyes suddenly sharpened and his body became ridged, both arms drew back and he punched the tank, sending a spray of glass pelting into Tadashi followed by a geyser of the green fluid. "!" With one arm blocking his face he managed to stumble back out of the way before he was drenched in it.

Even as the thick liquid pooled around his feet in the dimly lit darkness and he shook the glass off of him, discovering new cuts, he still wasn't afraid. He wasn't even nervous, he was in a void, frozen in emptiness between anxiousness and fear. He couldn't even draw up the will to make a move, he couldn't contemplate what move he would make even if he was sure of himself. He watched as Zero landed almost gracefully at the bottom of the tank, his armor and his skin dripping wet. He was sluggish at first in his movements, steeping out of the tank in a slow, stiff manner, and stumbling forward.

"!" Tadashi's instincts took over at that moment, he immediately ran forward and grabbed him before he fell face first into the ground. "Zero!" He pulled him up strait, and quite late, realized what he was doing. "Hey Zero! Can you hear me, are you there?" Zero lifted his head and looked at him with a blank, sleepy stare, he didn't speak. He used Tadashi as a crutch and lifted himself up to full height, and to the man's surprise the virus was taller then he was. He was sure that if Zero was back to normal he would have a field day with this, the thought only saddened him more. Tadashi felt Zero's slackened body tense and he immediately stepped back out of reach, watching cautiously from a barely visible section of the room. 'Is he...'

Zero's eye turned towards him in a sharp, distinct cut and a newly lucid focus, a simple glance dashed what ounce of optimistic hope Tadashi had let himself have. The virus moved in a lose, relaxed manner, walking casually as Zero would, with a bit of speed to his step, a habit due to Zero's usual impatience. But that's where the similarity's between this Zero and the half virus that preceded him ended. This Zero moved with an impeccable homing, visibly focused on one thing where the prior Zero would have simply seen listless and absentminded. These eyes didn't hold a semblance of the life they once did. "I don't suppose your in there somewhere are you Zero?" Tadashi called out, feeling almost obligated to at this point though holding no hope that it would work. Zero moved towards him at a pace that was intimidating, and if that was the aim of these sharp cut movements they certainly was working. "I thought so..." Tadashi waited anticipatively, trying to contemplate his next move.

About half way Zero suddenly darted forward in a burst of speed that nearly made Tadashi flinch, the man however reacted, not to gracefully stumbling to the side and just barely feeling a rush of air as Zero's fist graced past his head. '!' Tadashi strafed backwards evasively just as Zero reached out for him, but he lacked the speed and agility of Zero and the virus lunged outward with one long stride and seized Tadashi by the neck. "!" Zero wrapped both hands around his neck and easily lifted him off the ground, it was clear that Zero had none of the initial defects Megaman had suffered from. Tadashi's eyes grew wide and his hands shot up to Zero's arms, futilely attempting to pry them away. The urge to panic was overwhelming, he nearly gave in to the fear that slowly consuming his consciousness when his windpipe was squeezed shut. "Z-…Ze…ro…" He coughed out weakly, expelling his last bit of air, and for nothing it seemed, his words were to no avail.

Silently cursing himself for having to do this, Tadashi's hands reached out and grasped Zero's head, then he drew his knees up and sent a hard kick strait in to Zero's face. "!" Just as soon the grip around Tadashi's neck fell away and he fell roughly to the ground while Zero stumbled backwards. "Un…" Tadashi grasped his neck nursingly, coughing and gasping for lost air. He forced his eyes open and lifted his head, expecting Zero to dash at him with that superior speed and attack. '?' "Zero?" Zero instead was still, clinching his head, his cold face now twisted in pain, his legs trembling. 'What in the world?…Maybe he's…' Tadashi merely stared, standing cautiously idle with uncertainty. "Zero? Are you…alright?" He got no response, making him wearier. But the moment he saw Zero's legs give way, he was unable to stand idle any longer and immediately raced towards him, throwing his arms around him and catching him before he crashed face first into the ground. "Zero! Hey Zero! Can you hear me?"

No response came this time as well. Zero rested weakly on his knees with Tadashi's support, his entire body trembling, still clinching his head with some unknown pain.

! - ! - !

Blues took a few stumbling step backwards before he was able to catch himself, his breathing was labored with strain, his entire torso ached from bruising impacts and one arm remained hugged tightly against the armor every second 2 hands weren't required to be in use. His sword hung loosely at his side in a tight grip, and he stood ever tense as he tried to reclaim his lost stamina.

Zero staggered and fell to his knees, his only sounds were that of his harsh, ragged breaths. He had undoubtedly greater physical power, and a bountiful energy of unknown origin, for all Blues knew he'd always had it. But Blues had two things over Zero, agility and stamina. Zero was tired and he had run out of that bountiful, Blues could see it, in fact he was surprised it hadn't run out sooner the way he was using it. Blues would be sure to take advantage of it. With a loud grunt he bolted forward towards Zero, his sword dragging along the ground at his side.

Zero lifted his hands and the air around him began to waver as if a stream of burning hot air was venting up from underneath him. The thick red fog that had enveloped so much of this system began streaming towards him, into his body in a loud and furious rush. 'He's using the data he's already infected…' Blues realized, thinking seriously about stopping in his tracks at the moment. 'But what is he gonna do with-' An immense wave of red shot out of Zero a blinding speed, destroying the very ground it traveled on, in the brief second Blues had to look at it he could only relate it to lighting, red lighting. "!" Blues dived to the side and the wave roared past him with a gush of hot air that whipped his body and baked his skin. Blues rolled onto his feet with an agile fluidity and bolted across the last few feet of the divide before Zero had a chance to recover. "This is for trying to kill me!" He shouted, stepping up on Zero's shoulder and sending a hard kick to Zero's head with all of his strength, one that didn't fail to knock Zero on to his back and daze him, nearly knocking him unconscious.

"Ow…"

Blues flinched when he heard Zero's voice, he immediately turned around "Z-Zero?" Blues dropped his sword and ran back to the navi.

Zero clinched his face and rolled over on to his side "Ow…Damnit!" Zero shouted. Then, much to Blues' bewilderment, Zero erupted into laughter, trying once to remove his hands from his face but the pain was too great and he immediately replaced them. "You don't pull any punches do you?" He said, finding humor in the furry of Blues last attack. He wasn't surprised, where Megaman might have been inclined to take it easy out of guilt and concern, Blues simply grew angry and fought harder then he would have a normal adversary. "Is it just me or do you hit everybody this hard?" He found enough humor to entice another bout of laughter.

Blues folded his arms and looked away, completely confused. "What the hell are you laughing at, you just got your ass kicked."

"I needed it, don't you think?" Zero removed one hand from his face and planted it behind him as he sat up. This wasn't a particularly jovial situation, and normally he wouldn't have been in such a mood, but that laugh had given him something he needed. He felt in oddly high sprits now, ready to accept his inevitable fate with more peace then he'd ever had, now that Blues was with him. "I'm glad you stopped me…I was in that room with Tadashi about to do God knows what."

"What?" Blues knelt down beside him, "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you know." Zero said.

"You have a body? But…But how could you be hear if-"

Zero tapped his temple with his idle hand, drawing attention to his face obscured by his pressed hand. "Wireless remember….it's really strange, It's like I'm doing two things at once…It's really…dangerous."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Blues protested, trying desperately to understand as quickly as possible. "How can anything I do to you here effect you there?"

"I'm connected here and there." Zero explained, "One of them is just a projection, either I'm really here and projecting myself there, or I'm in the body and projecting myself here." Zero shrugged. "Maybe this is the one projecting, I mean, the body's just a means to get off the island, with the firewall slowing me down and you guys cutting off the power. Good job on that by the way, I had no where else to go."

"How do you know all of this? The last time I talked to you you were completely clueless." Blues asked. He reached out and took hold of Zero's hand, slowly prying it away from his face, hearing Zero hiss softly in pain. The light skin was tainted with blue blood, oozing from a gash just above his left eye. He felt guilty now, for causing such a wound, now that Zero was himself again…at lest…temporally. Blues slowly began wiping away the thick liquid with his forearm, before it seeped into Zero's eyes.

Zero smiled softly. "I don't know, It's just that I see things so much more clearly now. It's starting to even feel natural now…being like that…It doesn't even hurt anymore." Zero let Blues continue for much longer then he intended, enjoying the small, though a bit painful action simply because it came from Blues, the stoic navi who was normally so reserved with his personal space, and contact. "That's not the point." Zero pushed Blues' arm away and clamped his hand over the gash again. "The point is that this is your chance. If you kill me now, you can stop all of this."

"You're a little bastard, you know that right." Blues immediately stated. "Maybe if you weren't so fixed on dieing you wouldn't be like this! Your not even trying to fight it!" Blues shouted, every bit of his resentment in his voice.

Zero lowered his head and looked away shamefully. "I…I can't…"

"You have to! I mean come on, something in you responds, because you always come back if I hit you hard enough!" Blues said reverently, trying desperately to convince Zero to have the same hope he did. Because then maybe he'd stop talking like this, and if he kept thinking in this way maybe he'd ward away whatever change caused him to lose himself.

Zero felt depressed again, resenting Blues again, resenting seeing Blues trying to hard on his behalf, and knowing it was futile. Why didn't he just stop? Why didn't he just give up, why didn't he just listen! If there was a way to fight it then he would have found it by now. It was impossible for him, because those altered thoughts that drifted into his head, that compelled his actions, that changed his personality, they as undeniably his own, they were as real as Lan was or as the feel of Blues' touch, or even his own heartbeat. There's no way to fight that. "Blues."

Blues glared at Zero with a furry in his eyes, his body so taunt with anger that he trembled. "Fuck!" He yelled, pounding his fist into the ground. Damn! Why did it have to be like this! Why did he have to grow to feel so much for Zero if it would end like this? Not only was he being forced to lose him but…he might actually have to kill him? Why! Why did Zero have to be this way! Why couldn't he fight it! There had to be a way to stop this! "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Now he was just being naïve. And he hated Zero all the more for making him feel this desperation. He hated Zero for being the way he was, he hated Zero for prying his way into his soul and making him feel as though it were impossible to live with out him. Damnit! Why-

'?' He felt warm arms wrap around his shoulders, he lifted his head and found himself face to face with Zero, close enough to feel his intense body heat radiating off of him, looking into timid blue eyes and a mournful expression. The sight of it was enough to make Blues tilt his head away and avert his eyes to the ground, damnit, he hated that look.

"Thanks anyway." Zero smiled weakly, his eyes slowly drifting closed, then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Blues. Just one last time he wanted to feel this, the swelling of affection, of warmth that made his heart pound and his stomach weak, quaking like fear.

Blues' anger faded almost immediately, his eyes trembled behind closed lids as he kissed back. He could laugh at himself right now for a badly he wanted to keep him here, even more how badly he wanted this to last as long as possible. He blamed Zero for this, for making him feel this way. He'd never imagined he'd act like this over anyone, he never thought he'd let himself, he thought it was stupid, and he certainly felt out of his element, for Zero of all people.

Zero slowly pulled back and paused, debating with himself visibly before finally allowing himself to rest his head on Blues' shoulder. "You gotta do it." He said softly. "I could go at any minute…"

Blues wrapped his arms around Zero's back and held him tightly, almost as if to keep him from leaving. "I…can't…"

"Yeah you can, I know you can." Zero told him, "Now that I have a body you and Megaman have to do it."

"No…there's gotta be a way to help you, you just have to give us time." Blues said.

"Heh." Blues slowly slipped out of Blue's grasp and stood, placing his hand back on the cut above his eye just as it began to seep again. "I know you guys can, and I know you won't let me down." He said, his wings unraveling and appearing at his back.

"Hey wait! Where are you going?"

"Well your obviously aren't gonna do it right now." Zero said, imagining how hard it must be for Blues, that he probably need some time to accept it.

"How…can you just talk about it like that?" Blues asked solemnly. "Do you even realize what your asking me to do? Aren't you scared, do you even care?"

"Well…" Zero's voice trailed off. Maybe Blues was right, maybe he was speaking of this in a callous manner, as if it wasn't important. But it was still hard for him to believe that anyone could feel deeply about him when he could feel nothing for himself but resentment. He would have killed himself if given the chance, but some new force seemed to bar him from that action now, all he could do was rely on them. "Yeah, at first I was scared, but eventually…" Zero shrugged. "You come to a point where you accept it, you're even at peace with it. I mean come on, if you posed a threat like I do, what would you do?"

"…"

"Yeah." Blues nodded, then he turned around and with one flap of his wings he pushed off in the air and quickly disappeared.

! - ! - !

Tadashi wasn't exactly sure what he should have done at this moment. Zero was laying on the ground before him, cradling his head, submersed in an unknown pain, and not once had he responded. Should he get out of here like his instincts told him, but he'd then be leaving Zero alone to let him escape or do who knew what. Should he stay and risk another attack?

He couldn't seem to decide.

When he realized he wasn't moving anyway in his indecision he decided he would stay as long as he could, it wouldn't have felt right if he'd decided differently, simply leaving Zero alone like that would have felt traitorous. So he stayed, using the opportunity to, at the very least, study Zero. He noted some key differences in Zero's body then he found in Megaman during his initial study. Zero's muscles didn't hold the stiffness and tension Megaman's had, there was more flexibility, greater ranger of motion, an no repository trouble, and he could tell from the single attempt to strangle him Zero had made that the virus had no problem with strength. "Hmm…" Tadashi sat in a dry corner of the room, his arms resting against his legs and his eyes fixed on Zero, watching him through the ambient light at the bottom of the tanks that seemed to remain active through some emergency power source.

Tadashi removed the logs for Megaman's processing from where they sat in his waist band, utilizing the light while it remained. 'The emergency power used to sustain the incubators…they must controlled from bellow with all the other fuse boxes. If the incubator is still working, the servers must be on as well…so I guess just turning the power off is useless.' Tadashi sighed, mainly because he hadn't realized this before. "Enzan…" He immediately grew worried, withdrawing his cell from his pocket hopefully, much to his surprise he was getting a signal, which meant Zero wasn't in the area. He called Enzan. "Enzan? Are you alright?" He heard the familiar sound of water sloshing.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Enzan said. "I'm a little lost, but it's just about a strait shot through this place so if I shut down every fuse box I come across then I'll get there… eventually. I should be there soon, since the elevators still working I'll meet you. How's it going."

"Well…" Tadashi lifted his head from the papers and glanced at Zero. "I was too late, by the time Megaman and I reached the production room there was really nothing we could have done."

"So Zero has a body? Where is he?"

"Right in front of me, he passed out, I think it was Blues' doing."

Tadashi could practically see Enzan smiling in his mind. "Is that so."

"I'm not sure how long it'll last but I might be able to come up with something, if there was some way to get the logs from Zero's production."

"If you can get some of the back up power to just about any terminal in that wing before I shut it down you might have a shot, do you want me to hold off?"

"Nah, it shouldn't take that long."

"Good luck." With that the call ended.

Tadashi folded the logs he already had and replaced them in his waist band under his shirt, since they wouldn't fit in his pocket and would be safer there anyway. 'I better work fast…' Tadashi thought to himself, pushing himself off the wall and climbing to his feet…'Lan…' Tadashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, his son would want to know everything that's happening. So his next call was to Lan's hospital room. "Lan?"

"Dad?" Lan's initially sleepy voice quickly perked into anticipation. "What's going on, I couldn't find you. How's Megaman?" The speed of his words were a clear indication of just how anxious he was.

"Megaman's fine for the moment." Tadashi said. "But Zero…"

Lan's tone grew quiet and solemn, though a bit expectant. He must have known, he must have anticipated it, or maybe he gathered as much from the sound of his voice. "Did you find him?"

"Well yes, it's all a long story and I'll explain later, but the point is that Zero, at lest the one we know, might be gone. And also, he has a body."

"A what…But how….no, what does that mean?"

"I don't know exactly what he's trying to do."

"Is there a way to save him?" Lan asked hopefully.

"I'm working on it now, I just needed to tell you." Tadashi said. "So how are you doing?"

"Well…I don't exactly know Dad." Lan said with uncertainly. "They made something that might make me better, but they don't know what else it'll do to me. I guess it really doesn't matter, what ever happens it'll be better then a lung transplant."

"A-a what!"

"Oh, yeah, they said I might need a lung transplant because all the damage. But don't worry about that. What's more important is that you bring Enzan back with you, I think he needs this more then I do." Lan said, concern tenting his voice. "I guess you can replace lungs, but you can't switch legs."

"Hmm…" Tadashi looked up thoughtfully, "Don't worry, I-" Abruptly and unexpectedly his call dropped and the signal completely depleted. '?' "What?" Before Tadashi had a chance to inquire what was happening he heard Zero move and his attention was immediately drawn to the virus with a flinch.

Zero sat upright with a start, his eyes prying open as he quickly climbed to his feet. "Tadashi?" Though he could barely see him, when he noticed the man he couldn't help but freeze for a single, timid moment.

"Zero?" Tadashi didn't know if he was more startled or ecstatic. The feeling was short lived when Zero turned and took of in the darkness. "Hey! Hey wait!" Tadashi immediately ran after him only to run painfully into a slammed shut and barred off door. "Zero!" He yelled, pounding on the door, trying to force it open.

"I'm sorry Tadashi, but you can't come after me." Zero called out to the other side. "I'll just hurt you."

"I can help you! Just let me-"

"You can't help me." Zero cut him off sorrowfully. "There's not gonna be enough left of me to help in a minute, there's only one thing you can do for me now."

"You don't know that Zero!" Tadashi protested. "You're here, your talking to me right now, that's proof."

"Thank you for trying…but…" Zero's voice trailed off for a moment, but he spoke again soon enough. "I'm sure you found something to use against me in all that research, You have to use it."

"Don't give up so easily Zero." Tadashi pleaded. "I wont…"

"Tadashi…"

After that there was no more response, he was gone. "Damnit…Zero."

! - ! - !


	26. Chapter 26: Fearing

Chapter 25: Fearing.

_Our noonday report is looking worse then this morning, most of the viewing area is feeling the effects of these storm squalls so lets get right into our severe weather watch with Doppler 5000. An updated severe thunderstorm warning in effect for the following counties until 2:15..._

Enzan stumbled forward nearly blind through the darkness and fell against the concrete wall, gasping desperately to fill the starved void air, breathing seemed to no longer have no effect while he was moving. 'Fuck…' He cursed to himself, his chest burned with the need for air making it too painful to keep walking, the world felt as if it was tilting back and forth in a disorienting manner, he grew dizzy having the air supply to his brain slowly being squeezed off until it was non-existent. The flooded water now felt like freezing cold shackles around his legs chained to growing weights he continuously had to drag forward. His weakened legs were strained beyond their limits to the point where his muscles ached unbearably by simply standing. "Unn!" He let out a sharp yelp of pain and his legs gave way, sending him tumbling to his knees and surrounding his entire waist with the cold water. "Fuck!"

He could barely see his hands in front of his face, anything beyond a few inches was simply darkness, his only guide, and means of sanity at this point, was the faint glow of an exit sign running on back up power. When he first saw that faint aura he immediately came to love whatever being created the law making them mandatory. He loved it so much because he'd grown fearfully lost, he loved it because it was his way out of this personal hell, and if he got out of here now, under his own power, he could save himself from just be some scared young fool who was weak and far to prideful to realize he shouldn't have undertook this task in the first place. That, however, had been 10 minutes ago, and he seemed no closer to it now then before.

He was starting to panic.

The darkness began to play tricks on him, creating anxiety in his mind without doing anything at all. The sound of the water became a hunting soundtrack to this personal hell, the feel of it's icy grip numbing his legs and his ever weakening muscles made him continuously lose track of just how high the water was. It's motions threatened to over take him and sweep him off his feet. The worst of it was undoubtedly the fact that he was alone, each moment in isolation made the completely irrational fear grow stronger and his panic worsen. He'd never get out of here, he's too weak, he'd drown, no one will ever hear him down here, no one will find him in the dark…

"Damnit!" He fell back against the wall, gasping feverously to catch his breath, to make the world stop tilting, but he still couldn't breath and he began to grow sick. A nauseous feeling began to rise in his stomach and he clinched his eyes shut. He could feel the space growing smaller and tighter, walls were closing him! He felt anxious, something much deeper then the impending paranoia, he felt claustrophobic, he felt...Enzan stopped in mid step, he froze completely, an almost shocked look came to his face. '!!' He gasped and clinched his chest, his eyes widening, like the air had been snatched from his lungs, from the room. He could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest, so fast and hard he feared it would damage itself. The faint light began to grow farther away. Leaving him alone in the water and silent author of his fears surrounding him. This was even worse then the hospital…

The light of the exit sign was eclipsed for a split second and Enzan flinched, becoming immediately terrified. "!!" He reached out for something to grab a hold of and pull himself up but there was nothing. The slosh of the water grew an attribute to it, there was now the sound of something pushing through it in a rhythm, something _moving_. The light of the exit sign was obstructed for another split second as something moved in front of it and Enzan's heart began to pound harder, pushing blood through his ears so fast the entire earth seem to scream at him with a dull roar. 'What the fuck is that!?'

He reached out again for something to take hold of, about to call out to whatever invisible being there was, '!!' But he flinched and his body froze with racing, indecisive thoughts when his hand suddenly brushed against something that wasn't there before. "Who-" He barely had time to get a single word out before something decidedly solid pressed against his chest, his entire body shuttered and went cold and he could feel sweat seeping out of his skin. His throat tightened painfully and a his stomach churned, his heart jumped and for a brief moment he couldn't breathe. He was in complete and total terror, and he froze, his mind racing with incomprehensible thoughts. He wished desperately that he hadn't froze at the moment.

The thing pressing against his chest could immediately be distinguished as a hand when it grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him off the ground. Enzan's hands immediately darted up and grabbed on to who's or whatever's arm had seized him, he felt his cell phone slip out of his pocket. "!!" With his rationale returning to him he reached down in the darkness and in possibly the luckiest catch to date he managed to snatch the phone out of the air, flip it open and utilize the back lit screen as an improvised flashlight. He flinched when the offending being was illuminated and he found himself face to face with Zero. "Z-Zero!?"

He got no response, the hand clinching his collar was suddenly replaced by one around his neck. A tight palm pressed into his throat cut off his air and his free hand instinctively reached up and tried to pry it away. "Z…" He cursed his legs for hanging there weak and idle as they were, they were useless to him. He clinched his fist, cell phone and all, and began punching Zero as hard as he could, sending forceful strikes to the side of Zero's face. It seemed to have no effect at first, and Enzan frantically began punching harder and faster, it was 10 strikes before Zero was knocked off balance, and 12 before Zero's grip loosened and Enzan fell into the water, hard. Water splashed up all around him and before he knew it water covered his face and began flooding into his mouth, he couldn't control the sudden streak of panic that flooded him. For a few, terrifying seconds he was completely submerged having no air to begin with, it seemed like an eternity before he could put his hands behind him and sit upright. The pain in his lungs grew to intense proportions as he coughed out the water he'd inhaled and in a sharp and rough gasp. The watery tunnels echoed loudly with his struggles for air.

"Zero…" He lifted his cell phone and shined it around in the darkness, looking around for the now embodied virus. He was nearly petrified, though at the same time he was comforted in a familiarity, knowing and recognizing who it was that was doing this was far better then a stranger. That being said, he had a reasonable and ominous certainty that he was probably going to die down here . "You probably don't even know who I am anymore do you?" He asked, though gained no response. He was saddened at this, and grew tenser.

A strong arm sudden wrapped around his neck from behind, "!!" Enzan's eyes widened in terror. His body was draw up and a loud, wet turmoil of struggling, the echoing splashes was deafening in his ears. His cellphone dropped from his hands and the world was shrouded in unknown, uncertain vial of darkness. One hand tried desperately to loosen Zero's am while the other sent sharp elbows into Zero's side. To no avail it seemed, Zero was unfazed by it.

He couldn't help but think of how horrible a death suffocation was. It was slow, every second felt like hours, it was painful, his body panicked completely independent of his mind and struggled, constantly trying to breath when there was no air to draw from. He began to wish it simply over. He had no chance of breaking Zero's hold but yet he still the panic stricken Enzan struggled, wasting away his air.

The bright light of a flashlight seemed to appear out of nowhere, so bright and intense he had to clinch his eyes shut. For a moment he thought he was dying. He wanted to call out to the source for help, to scream it as loud as he could, but Zero's strength wouldn't allow a peep out of him. "Enzan!" Megaman's voice echoed loudly and the fear dissipated from Enzan, the boy's head raced with thoughts beckoning, pleading to Megaman. He could hear the former navi's steps sloshing towards him and then something fly past his head, Megaman's fist apparently, and crash into Zero's face. He felt Zero fall backwards and his arm slip away from his neck, Enzan gasped desperately before his body crashed into the icy grip of the water for a second time, it felt as if ice was squeezing his body and he struggled frantically to get his head above it.

"Enzan? Are you aright?" Megaman knelt down beside him and pulled him upright, Enzan clinched his chest and began heaving convulsively, he couldn't move let alone speak. "Just calm down and try to-!" A sharp kick crashed in to Megaman's back and he was sent sliding forward, sliding through the water and sending waves slapping audibly into the walls. Megaman climbed to his feet and looked around curtly in the darkness, as if he could see with out the flashlight. He heard the loud drizzle of water dripping off of Zero's clothing right in front of him and instinctively drew his fist back and struck. He felt his fist strike Zero's chest and threw another blind punch towards where his head of had to be.

Zero heard the punch pushing through the air and immediately leaned backwards evasively, then he quickly reached out and grabbed hold of Megaman's fist. He pulled Megaman forward and drove his knee into Megaman's stomach, knocking an audible burst of air out of Megaman with one sharp tug. Megaman stumbled forward and Zero wrapped both arms around Megaman's waist, with his strength he easily lifted Megaman and slammed him into the ground, throwing a wave of water upward in one, massive splash. As he often did, Zero grabbed Megaman's neck with one hand and began pounding into him with the other fist, a move adapted from Blues.

Megaman didn't need air, strangling wasn't nearly as effective on him, and neither was holding him under water. The pummeling, however, worked just fine. His first instincts should have been to block, or to strike back, but they were strangely and suddenly absent, he could only stare blankly with wide blue eyes through the darkness at the source of a tugging on his mind, on his entire being. He couldn't see it, but rather felt it was there, like a phantom pain that was spread over every part of his body, an ache from a part of him that was no longer attached, or more aptly, he was no longer attached too. He barely realized that Zero's punches had stopped coming, and the virus was still, while firmly retaining his hold. 'Z…ero…'

Enzan fumbled around blindly in the darkness, his hands padding the ground under the water until his hands brushed against something better then his cellphone, a flashlight. He pulled it out of the water and turned it on, sweeping it quickly over his surroundings. Zero was right in front of him, holding down Megaman, only neither of them were moving, the only thing holding Megaman down was Zero's weight on top of him. Something that could have easily been lifted off, but instead Megaman was just laying there, even under the distortion of the water he could see that Megaman was only staring at him. "Megaman what the hell are you doing! Get up!"

Enzan's voice was like a sharp jolt that stirred Megaman from a sleep, "!!" He sat sharply upright and pushed Zero off, scrambling to his feet like a frightened child scurrying away from something fearful. He didn't understand it.

"Megaman? What's wrong with you?" Enzan pulled himself back against a wall, trying to lift himself up to his feet in futility, his legs were too weak and the pain was too strong, the weight of the water made the nearly impossible quite impossible. 'Goddamnit!' His only fear now was spawned out of his helplessness.

"I-I don't know." Megaman stammered, "He touched me and I started to feel all weird…I-I feel strange just being near him." The blinding light was blocked by Zero's form in a split second, Megaman knew he should have told himself to react only the command never seemed to get there, only a sharp punch from Zero. He barely felt the punch itself over the resounding phantom pain that resonated through his body and the sudden feeling of complete disconnect, the only way to feel right again it seemed was to attach himself to what ever was pulling at him. "Zero…"

"Megaman! Snap out of it!" Enzan shouted, knowing Megaman was his only lifeline at this point.

Megaman rushed forward and rammed into Zero hard enough to push him off a step, then threw a sharp elbow to side of his face. "Un…" Megaman stumbled backward, clinching his head in pain. Touching him seemed to have the same effect, at a lower intensity. To much contact with Zero, being struck or other wise, threw him completely out of it. Megaman froze, he stood there and stared at the shadowy silhouette of Zero against the flash light, biologically, carnally wanting to be connected.

And when Megaman froze, Zero stopped too, only he seemed to be pre-occupied with something, not dazed like Megaman. Enzan didn't understand it, but he was starting to get an idea. 'What is Zero doing to him?' "Megaman! Megaman! Hey, wake up!" Megaman seemed to come out of it for a brief moment, but his eyes grew wonton and he fell right back into it. "Damnit!" Enzan tried desperately again to move, but his legs were only met with pain.

"!!" Megaman flinched at the fierce obscenity and his eyes grew sharp again. Zero immediately moved, sloshing ominously through the water with quick, calculated steps, he grabbed Megaman by the neck with both hands, his face cold and blank as he threw Megaman easily aside with his strength.

Megaman's body crashed roughly into Enzan, smashing the boy between himself and the wall hard enough to draw blood and sending them both sliding down below the water's surface.

The sound of rolling thunder echoed in the distance. The only way thunder could be heard down here was if there was an opening… Zero turned towards the faint sound and began moving towards it, his steps growing quieter in the water with each new one he took.

The flashlight smashed and the light flickered away, leaving Enzan to struggle under the dark water pinned beneath Megaman. For the countless time Enzan was sent into a panic when his head was suddenly surrounded and water rushed into his nose, mouth and ears with the pain in his head radiating through out his entire body. He nearly passed out from the blow, and though he managed to remain conscious he couldn't stop himself from taking a breath only for his lungs to be flooded with water. "!!" He felt Megaman's hand grab on to his arm and he was pulled sharply out of the water, coughing and spewing forth all of the water from his lungs in a violent, disorienting confusion.

"Enzan, are you all right?" Megaman sat Enzan up against the wall and held on to his shoulders to keep him from slipping back down, wishing he could see his face, maybe that would offer some clue as to what he should do next.

It was a full moment before Enzan could respond again, his throat felt as if it had been scraped raw, his chest burned so intensely he could have mistook it for fire, and his head pulsed with pain in time with his pounding heartbeat. "I'll live." He said, biting back all of the pain as best he could, just as he always did. "Zero?" His body trembled from the cold and his voice was breathy, it shook so much he could barley get a word out from the shivering.

"He's gone."

"W-what…about you, are.. you ok?"

"Yeah, now." Megaman replied with an apologetic tone, "I don't know what happened to me."

"We.. c-can…figure that out later." The only thing more driving then the pain was his now complete association with this place with fear, his hours down here were enough to give rise to a new fear of the dark. 'I…actually thought I was gonna die down here…' Enzan could almost laugh at himself for feeling this way. Now that his legs were too weak to move and the water felt like icy knives pricing every inch of his body, he simply wanted nothing more then to get out of this place.

"Your right…" Megaman wrapped his arms around Enzan and felt how cold he was, but when he thought about it he supposed he was no help either. "You can't walk can you?"

Megaman could feel Enzan's icy stare even though he couldn't see it. "No." He uttered resentfully.

"Alright then." Megaman turned around and lead Enzan's arms to his neck.

Enzan instinctively held only, though not with out a small, silent pause to morn the passing of his pride. Megaman slipped his arms underneath Enzan's legs and stood seamlessly, carrying Enzan on his back towards the faint exit light. Enzan closed his eyes and laid his head weakly on to Megaman's back, hoping to draw what warmth he could beyond the wet clothing, there was none it seemed. But there was a small comfort in holding on to something, it settled the nauseating anxiety he closed his eyes and shut out the darkness that had been playing tricks on him for longer then he cared to admit. He didn't care that it was dark behind his eyelids, at lest this couldn't make him see things. "Why'd you come down here?"

"I was going after Zero. He'd locked Tadashi in the incubation room, and since I hadn't seen him, this was the only other way he could have went."

"Oh."

It wasn't long before wet steps turned into dripping ones on dry floors and he opened his eyes again, through the exit doorway lay a now dysfunctional elevator and stairs beside it. 'I forgot the elevator wasn't working.' He softly sighed to himself, watching Megaman ascend the dark stairs, his footsteps echoing. 'I wouldn't have made it this far…' They came up in the production wing, Enzan could see the shadowy form of Tadashi sitting against the wall, curiously cleaning his glasses with his shirt. Enzan laughed a little at this, old habits die hard it would seem, especially the nervous ones

"What?" Megaman asked curiously."

"Nothing."

Megaman eased Enzan down beside Tadashi, then sat down himself. Tadashi could feel the cold radiating off of him, he could hear Enzan's shivering breathes and water dripping from his clothes. "Enzan what happened to you? Are you alright?" Tadashi pulled Enzan forward off the wall and pulled off his shirt, the wet fabric stuck to his skin and separated with an audible sound, falling to the ground with a weight. Then he hurriedly pulled off his suit coat rested it on to Enzan's shoulders.

"I ran i-in to Zero." He said. He sat there idle and complacent as Tadashi rubbed his torso vigorously, he could feel a heat slowly develop in the spots he touched. "I'm alright… B-but, I don't-t know about Megaman."

Tadashi glanced curiously over his shoulder. "Megaman?"

"I'm fine now, It's just that when I was around him… I felt really strange, I couldn't focus enough to fight him." Megaman said.

"Lack of focus-" Enzan took in a deep breath and his voice normalized. "—Is the least of your problems. When Zero touched him he completely froze, while he was being pounded into the ground."

"Hmm…" Tadashi paused thoughtfully, only to realize he didn't have time to try to figure it out here, not that he could have. "We can figure that out later, we have to find Zero again, and _you_ have to go back to the hospital Enzan."

"What? Why?" He asked defensively.

"I was trying to call you, but I guess Zero was causing too much interference." Tadashi started. "Lan call me, he said he'd been started on a treatment that would break up the substance degrading his lungs, he really wanted to find you."

Enzan stared blankly in to the darkness in disbelief. "…Hn…" How could he argue with that?

"I guess there's nothing left to do here." Tadashi stood up and clinched his shoulder, rotating it weakly. "What a morning."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Some how I didn't think it would be so dark when all the power was turned off." Enzan slipped his arm from around Megaman's shoulder and allowed the former navi to ease him down to a chair. Even though it was so dark he could barely see, there was still a familiarity about the control room, where he spent most of his time on the island. "I guess I forgot." Damn memory.

Megaman sat down in a chair beside him, placing his elbows on the table in front of a lifeless computer and resting his head in his hands. "So, are you going to come back?"

"Yeah, sure." Enzan said dismissativly. "I don't really have a choice at his point."

"Hn."

"Megaman." Enzan closed his eyes and slumped down in the chair, clinching his arms across his chest hoping to build warmth. "I think I know what's wrong with you, I think Lan's dad figured it out too."

Megaman looked over towards him curiously. "Really? What?"

"You don't have any idea by now?" Enzan said with a bit of astonishment, he could tell from Megaman's silence that he hadn't. "It's Zero." He said simply. "I guess it was because you haven't been around him as much as I have, but all of your glitches happen at the same time as Zero's."

"How do you know that?" Megaman asked.

"Your always with Lan, and he tells me about all the stuff that happens to you. The time frames match perfectly, every time something weird happens to Zero, something happens to you. Know why?"

"Because I'm infected…" Megaman realized, and an entire universe of ideas began to open up to him.

"It's more then that, Zero was formed from all that infected data of yours, a sizable part of him is you, and a big part of you is him. It would make sense for you to share some of the same cycles of flaws." Enzan told him. "The thing is now you have 2 problems. The first is that you were never fixed, Lan's biggest oversight was thinking processing you into a body would some how help that. And the second is…well I'm pretty sure Zero's trying to control you, since your infected."

"…" Megaman didn't respond, he lost himself in his thoughts…"You think he'll be able too?"

The sound of the door opening could be heard clearly, followed by the glare of a flashlight shining in their eyes. "I've been looking for you Enzan." A voice called out, clearly relieved that his search was over. It was one of the many engineers that were now roaming around, confounded about how their late shift had turned into this complete mess in the dark, and idly (or simply sleeping) waiting for some kind of explanation, or a chance to figure it out on their own. The search for truth required power, and a clear line of vision.

"Who hasn't." Enzan lifted his head and glared into the light balefully, and the man on the other side quickly turned off the light.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?"

"The basement is flooded." Enzan said. "Where's the construction crew, is the fire marshal still here?"

"I suppose I can all and find out where all of the crews are, and the Fire marshal is still here. He's not happy though."

Enzan silently cursed to himself, feeling that the inspections would never finish at this rate, and if they didn't finish the construction would eventually come to a grinding halt, and nothing would ever get done. "Damnit…What'd you wanna tell me?"

"The Zero unit you were looking for, he's gone." The man said.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Enzan asked skeptically, "How could you guys know that, you can't see anything?"

"Some guys outside trying to fix the pipes spotted him in one of the cargo boats, they couldn't get to him."

"How long ago?" Enzan asked nervously, hoping that Zero could be still reached.

"They just told me a few minutes ago." The man said. "It's not a long ride to shore, he's probably gone by now."

"Damnit!" Enzan clinched his forehead, he felt his headache growing worse and remembered the blood trickling down the back of his neck wasn't sweat.. From what he'd heard from Tadashi and Blues, it was clear that Zero was using the body specifically to get off the island, and he was controlling the 201102 virus himself. "Alright, turn the power back on." He knew Zero, and he knew there was a limit to his range, so it should be safe to turn everything back on again, with the firewall in place. "Just make sure you turn on the systems controlling the firewall first."

"Yeah." The man nodded, completely unseen. "There's another thing I needed to tell you, it's your father, he wants to talk to you. He says he's on his way here."

Enzan rolled his eyes, he knew what this was about, with everything that's happened he'd have to be in a coma not know what this was about. The man of course wanted to discuss all of these incidents as well as his future running this project, it didn't look good for him. That was stress he didn't need right now. "Tell him not to bother, I have to go back to the hospital." Enzan was determined to put this off as long as possible, or at lest until he could get Zero under control. "Get those inspections finished, that's priority. The first shift guys should be here by now so everyone on third shift can go home."

The man went off to relay Enzan's words to those who it concerned, Tadashi entered the room just as the engineer left. "There really is no reason for us to remain here then." Tadashi said, "I have the logs for Megaman and Zero, I can take them back to my office and see what I find."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

_Lan…_

_Lan…_

Lan had been reasonably certain he was dreaming when he heard that voice so he paid it no mind, his body was heavy and the bed beneath him was soft, he only wanted to sink into it's hold and sleep. But the voice persisted, drawing him farther and father toward consciousness, "Mega…" He mumbled, his body that he once thought was heavy with sleep now felt more stiff then anything. His chest ached and it was hard to breath, as though there was something heavy weighting his lungs down. For a moment he thought someone was hitting him on the head, but it was a headache that felt oddly close to the surface. "Oww… What did they do to me…" He groaned, prying his eyes open. He was met by intensely bright lights, partially blocked by Megaman leaning over him with a curious expression on his face. "Megaman, it is you."

"How are you doing Lan?" Megaman spoke softly, having gathered that Lan wasn't exactly feeling well.

"I feel like crap…" He lifted his head and looked down at his arms, his eyes followed the clear IV line attached to his arm up to a bag hanging from a hook. It was about halfway empty giving him a vague indication of how long he'd been sleeping. "Your looking better." Lan said with a small smile. An excitement began to grow inside him, filling him with an overjoyed energy he wanted to reach up and throw his arms around Megaman, but he was thrown off guard by just how much trouble he had moving his arms and thought better of it.

Megaman smiled and laughed softly, slowly wrapping his arms around Lan's neck and laying a soft kiss on his forehead. "I missed you too."

"What a day." Lan closed his eyes and yawned, listening to the familiar sounds of rain pouring out side. "What's with all the rain? It's been raining for like a week." He slowly lifted his arms off of the bed, raising them with steadily increments, but then it seemed that his arms reached there limits and could go no farther, even though they weren't very high at all.

Megaman watched him, his questioning expression grew puzzled at the sight. "What are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to stretch." Lan stared up at the ceiling with frustration, "But I can't move…Can you…uh…help me?"

"Yeah, sure." Megaman nodded, he leaned over Lan and looked over him cautiously, fearing he might hurt him he moved slowly. Megaman wrapped his arms around Lan's back and pulled him up with painstaking care, Lan hissed in pain, the tension in his muscles was forced to slacken. "Are you alright?"

"I feel a littler better now." Lan arched his back, then bent forward, reliving more of the painful stiffness. "So…what about Zero?"

Megaman pressed a hand against Lan's back for support as he softly pulled Lan's arm as far as he could manage without hurting him. Then he began massaging Lan's shoulders, working away the hard tautness that had locked the limb in place. "He's gone, he got away, nobody knows where he is."

"He's just out there?" Lan's voice jumped abruptly and he bit down on his bottom lip as Megaman pulled his arm that last bit above his head and he felt a somewhat painful pop before every thing relaxed. "Shouldn't we-"

"I'm sure Enzan has people looking for him."

"Zero…" Lan sighed. "I can't believe this happened to him…All the times he kept saying it would happen to him…and it finally did."

"…" Megaman began moving in massaging motions down Lan's back.

Lan cringed, in his current state it felt stranger then favorable, but it got better as the knots were loosened and his flexibility increased. "I just wish I could see him again…"

"Yeah maybe." Megaman tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

Megaman finished and Lan thanked him, gratefully stretching out his legs and climbing out of bed. "Geez, what are they trying to do to me?" He grumbled, when he stood he felt as if all the blood began rushing away from his head, making his headache grow stronger and a sudden bout of dizziness come about, he immediately sat back down before he fell. "Where's my dad, did he come back with you?" He clinched his head and let himself fall backwards on to the bed, hoping that this sudden spell would run it's course quickly.

"He was here for a long time while you were asleep, I think he went to Enzan's room."

"Enzan's here too?" Lan asked, he peeked one eye open and glanced over at Megaman, his interest enticed. "How is he?"

Megaman rubbed the back of his neck uneasily and turned his eyes to the window, "He's gotten worse since he left, I think it's the stress."

"I'll bet." Lan sat up again and pulled himself on to his feet. "I'll be back, I have to go check on him." Lan, frustrated with it anyway, pulled the IV from his arm with a small wince of pain and blood, then slowly made his way out of the door into the hall. It took him a moment and a fair amount of steps before all the stiffness was gone from his legs and he could walk normally. He stopped at the nurse's station to inquire Enzan's room, hoping all the while no one would recognize him, especially without his IV. Luckily it seemed the nurse he talked to was different then the one that administered that god-awful cocktail of chemicals to him this morning and there was no incident.

Lan pulled the door open and peeked into room 504, he saw his father sitting in a chair beside the window, a folder in his lap and a pen being fidgeted nervously around in his hand. Lan assumed that he was supposed to be focusing on the whatever was in that folder, but instead he was staring out the window in some level of distraction Lan never could understand. He always did this when it rained. Enzan was asleep, the IV attached to his arm depleted a fourth. "Dad." Lan slipped in and closed the door behind him.

Tadashi was startled by the sudden voice, he barely caught the folder slipping off of his lap before it hit the ground and quickly set it aside. "Lan?" Before he knew it Lan's arms around his waist hugging him tightly, he smiled hugged him back. "Are you ok?"

It was easy to simply shrug and give Megaman a disseminative answer, it was common not to even give that question a second thought. It was different with his father, he felt the urge to spill out every thing he'd felt during his absence, the cold, hollowing worry and uncertainty he felt waiting, the fearful thoughts that ran through his head and distracted him when the doctor spoke to him, the sullen, groggy lag in his body that companied many distinct pains. But he didn't, even though he wanted too, he knew it would just make him worry and would solve nothing. "I'm alright." It might make him feel a lot better though.

He looked Lan over, studying everything about him from the stuporous attribute to his face to the way he swayed on his feet from time to time. "What are you doing up, what happened to your IV?"

Lan looked down at his arm, his mind racing for an excuse. "It got caught on something when I was leaving." He said. "I accidentally pulled it out."

"You need to-"

"I'll just have somebody put it back later…and besides, I had to see you guys."

Tadashi sighed, his hand thoughtlessly reaching up to adjust his glasses habitually. "I suppose it'll be alright for you to stay for a little while, but not too long."

"Yeah." Lan nodded. His sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Enzan sleep with an interest he couldn't describe, all he knew was that it was near impossible for him to take his eyes away. 'Enzan…' He wished he was awake. There were so many things he wanted to say to Enzan…what were they? When he tried to think them out he couldn't find the words, only a melee of emotions running through his head that he couldn't possibly articulate. Ok, maybe it was better Enzan was asleep, he'd just look like an idiot trying to talk to him. Maybe if there was a way to let him feel what he felt he wouldn't need to think of anything to say. The worry, the anger, the sorrow, the fear.

Maybe the only thing he could express was his fears, he was scared of what was happening to Megaman, he was scared of what was happening to Zero, he was scared of what was happening to Enzan, he was terrified of what was happening to himself. Most of all it had to be the uncertainty that he was afraid of the most, he wasn't sure if this treatment would work, he wasn't sure what was wrong with Megaman, or Zero, and he was irked because he didn't know what he could do about it. The fear might have been something he could speak outloud, but most of all he wished he could tell him about the ominous feeling he always had, that it would all end up badly.

He could imagine what Enzan would say to that.

He wish he had Enzan's courage, or whatever it was that made him able easily take all of this. Ok, maybe it wasn't easy for him, but Enzan certainly was fairing far better then he was. "Hey dad…"

Tadashi looked up "Yes Lan?"

"…Tell it to me strait, is there any other way to stop Zero then to kill him?" He asked sullenly. He wasn't naïve, he'd been paying attention, he knew all the problems the '201102' virus caused and was still causing, he remembered very well what had happened to Guttsman and Megaman and who knew how many other navies by now. Zero was a virus, Lan had much experience quarantining and deleting viruses, he feared that was the only answer to the problem.

"Honestly?" Tadashi leaned back in his seat and his eyes inanely drifted out of the window into the storm out side. "I'm not sure, but don't worry, I am looking."

Lan's head sunk and he closed his eyes. "Alright."

"Time to go back Lan, you can see Enzan later."

! - ! - !


	27. Chapter 27: The weather part 1

Chapter 26: The weather part 1

_This is your severe weather watch team interrupting this program to bring you up to speed with what's going on. Lets get right into it and take a look out side with Doppler 5000. Just one look on the map sums it up, These areas in red represent _

_an extreme severity and as you can see there are quite a few of them. As long as that tropical air that's been hanging over us like it has is there there's a possibly for rain and severe weather, and it looks like this one is gonna be a big one. Chances are if your watching this you can see the strength of these storms for yourself, there are widespread reports of flooding, it's very dangerous to be on the roads in certain areas. Look at all of these lighting strikes, especially in these southern counties, were also getting reports of high wind speeds and hail in some places so be careful of that. What I really want to bring your attention to is these areas, we're picking up quite a bit of rotation so if your in these counties take shelter immediately. Don't even sit here and watch this news cast, go to the lowest levels of your homes. Let see if I can Zoom in…Doppler 5000 storm cast showing street level now, with the first squall I can see the cell showing rotation approaching emarry road and stark, so if your in one of those areas._

It was 6 am. 'The sun should be rising.' He thought to himself. It was a thing he didn't know for sure because he didn't have any windows in his office, it was hard to have windows when your offices was in the middle of the building.

Tadashi leaned back at in his chair and stared at the computer screen, it's glow was the brightest illumination in the room, making everything else seem dim in comparison. The keyboard rested in his lap, sitting upright for hours at a time began to take a toll on his back, he blamed it on his growing age. His desk was scattered in disorganized clutter where it normally would have been neat, he blamed it on the long hours he worked. The pages of Megaman's and Zero's logs were half sticking out of a folder on the edge of his desk, other papers and binders with his own notes stacked on top. He was no longer using them, he wasn't focusing on it all together.

Instead he spent most of his time searching the internet for instances of new infections, because if it happened somewhere, news of it would always make it's way to the internet. It was fruitless thus far and had long become boring and tedious, and it was times like this when Zero used to be here to keep him company, it was a lot less boring when you were bored together. It was stoically quite, a sound he'd gotten used to. Tadashi's vision began to blur and he clinched his eyes shut, he blamed it on the lack of coffee. Habitually he reached up to remove his glasses and begin cleaning them with his shirt as if they had anything to do with it, then he rubbed his eyes and replaced them.

'Doesn't look like I'm gonna find him today…' Tadashi let his head fall backwards and his eyes close, the keyboard sagged on his lap and his hands fell on to the armrest. He was so tired, the immature urge to sleep off the entire day was strong, but he knew if he fell asleep here he'd have to get up a few hours later anyway. 'Do I…really wanna find him?' Tadashi thought to himself, a doubt that only could have crept in during complete excursion. Of course he wanted to see Zero again, to be able to find some way to fix him, but at this point those notions were wishful thinking. A part of him wanted Zero to stay gone, so they wouldn't have to face the enviable stand off that was coming.

His mind might have been able to dream in that notion had they not been under a time limit, he'd seemed to have lost the ability to imagine things outside the realm of possibility, he found himself imagining things that seemed possible to reach. A virus either mutates or it's destroyed, and he knew soon enough Zero (The self-sustaining virus he was) would change and then nothing could be done to stop him. They had a limited window, anything and everything they could do at the moment had to be done in the allotted time.

The world was distinctive, it was hard, cold, calculating. "Zero…" Tadashi sighed.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Megaman took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, easing slowly until both front legs were off the ground and the back pressed against the wall. The hospital room was bleakly depressing, the window reminded him vaguely of going through a carwash, the intense rain made it impossible to make out any recognizable image. Merely a dim light washed through from the over cast sky, making little more the shadowy out lines visible in the room. The rain and wind were obscenely loud, a harsh pounding, like thousands of coins falling, with a haunting howl seeming coming from all sides.

Megaman hadn't been feeling particularly well, his body hot and lagging energy, he felt heavy, but at the same time light headed. With the added noise of the storm outside, it was impossible for him to sleep now. 'Man, and there wasn't a drop of rain this week either, now this.' The previous week had yielded the string of storms to a heat wave, temperatures reached in the 90s. And now this torrential down pour of rain had come on in the late hours. Megaman had trouble sleeping ever since, Lan, however, could sleep through anything it seemed. Megaman watched his shadowy form, laying on his stomach on top of the covers, stretched out sloppily, IV lines hanging from his arms.

'Lan…' Megaman smiled, Lan always took up a lot of room when he slept, Megaman always found himself slipping out of Lan's way because it was always easier then vying for space. And eventually he just curled into a ball and slept that way, and he found it comfortable, which instantly made it a habit. 'Oh man…' Megaman clinched his eyes shut and planted his hands on his forehead, he felt like a small fire had been lit under his skin, and the headache continued to pulse so intensely that it was hard to focus on anything else. He shouldn't have been having headaches, ever. He also should have been able to turn off sensory receptors for touch, and equivocally pain, he'd never been able to do anything like that. Even now he was barely able to use all of his strength, after weeks of pushing himself, enduring disorientation, dizziness, nausea, even memory loss.

He wondered vaguely if this was how the rest of his existence would be. He never was feeling completely right at any one moment. "…" Megaman eased the chair back down on to the ground and stood up, with slow, creeping steps he moved towards the door, hoping not to disturb Lan while he slept. He was always sleeping lately, most hours of the day he was unconscious, a side effect from the treatment he presumed. Megaman slowly pulled the door open.

"Where are you going?"

Megaman flinched when he heard the sudden voice and looked back. "Nowhere, just a walk."

"Un…alright." Lan rolled over on to his side and pulled the covers over his head.

Megaman didn't understand how he could stand the heat. "Aren't you hot?" Megaman would think such an action would be suffocating.

"I'm freezing." Lan moaned.

Megaman would have wondered if it was just him if those few seniors he had that were still working told him the temperature was 70 degrees in side of the room. And even greater internally. "…" Maybe Lan really did need that rest. "I'll be back soon, ok." He shut the door behind him. And from there he began wondering, his body seemed to draw him towards cooler places and eventually he made his way down to the first floor and froze right in front of an air duct blowing cold air. He might have stood there all day had he not realized he was only in the way of people moving about the lobby. So inevitably he moved on, wondering his way towards the glass panes of the front entrance. "Man it's really pouring out there." He said to himself, leaning against the wall and watching the rain pound down outside. He was curious. "I bet it's cold out there, with all that rain…"

The worst that could happen was that he'd get wet.

And did he ever. From the moment he step out side of the towering building he was soaked in the down pour of cold drops, his blue hair was drenched and became matted against his face. His clothes became soaked and heavier, his shirt clung to him while his pants hung with a weight. The air was warm and muggy, nearly negating the effect of the cold drops, nearly. When he was in the rain he didn't feel so bad, the cold drops made him tense every time they made contact with his overheated skin, it seemed to wake him up a bit, stirring an energy inside of him. The world was sharper and more distinctive and he was no longer dizzy or disoriented. The headache persisted though.

Thunder rumbled loudly in the skies above, irritating his ears. But he didn't care. Megaman wiped the water from his eyes, he recovered so much energy by moving around like this that he began to wonder how long he could run for. He remembered a time when he couldn't go very far with out nearly passing out, he'd come a long way since then.

So he took off, sprinting headfirst as fast as he could. The world washed past him in a wet blur, the colors were dulled from the harsh rains falling through the sky, water pelted him faster then ever. He smiled, pushing wet hair out of his face. "Heh…" He didn't feel dizzy or tired or disoriented at all, he wanted to see how long this would last, how far he could go. Lighting flashed, illuminating dark surrounds with a sudden and fleeting flare of light, a heart beat of deathly silence was followed by an uproarious roll of thunder.

Then all of a sudden he felt like his body hit a wall.

Megaman slowed down, quickly grabbing on to a signpost to stop himself. A wash of new feelings came on to him suddenly, he started to feel foggy, like a part of his mind started to go numb. "Whoa…" He had to stop, his wasn't right, this wasn't the type of thing that happened to him during physical excursion. He looked around. Water pooled in the sides of the streets, no longer draining into the gutters. The traffic strained to dismal levels, pedestrians were non-existent, everything was empty. Hauntingly empty.

Suddenly he felt a pulling in his head, an urging, an incompleteness. "No way…" Megaman looked around frantically, "It must be-" Megaman turned around and flinched when he found himself face to face with Zero, his eyes met with cold, haunting blue eyes, wide and seemingly unaffected by the wind and rain. "Z-Zero!?" He froze, he didn't know what to do, should he try to subdue him? Or should he try and see if he would respond? "Zero, are you-"

He couldn't finish before two strong hands shot out and wrapped around his neck and lifted him off of his feet. That being a sufficient answer for his question, Megaman's hands immediately reached up and clinched on to Zero's wrists, trying to pry him off. But it was to no avail, he could feel Zero's grip struggling under his own but the virus held steady, and his touch was starting elicit strange reactions from Megaman. "!!" Megaman's eyes widened in fear when he felt the pull on his mind grow stronger and his body grow weaker. 'Get off! Get off! Get off!' Megaman drew his knees up and sent his feet plowing into Zero's chest, knocking him back and sending him stumbling to the ground. Megaman caught himself and landed on his feet. 'What am I suppose to do?' He staggered backwards until his back fell against a telephone poll, the muscle tensing sensation of driving rain pelting him with cold drops began to numb away until he couldn't feel it anymore, only a cool sense of uncomfortable wetness and the weight of his clothing hanging off of him. He was frozen with uncertainty and fear, what was he supposed to do!?

A sharp flash of lighting and a window shattering crash of thunder echoed in the sky over head, making him flinch and jarring him back to life. He blinked and saw Zero coming right at him. "!!" Megaman pushed off the pole and slipped to the side just as the virus's fist struck the metal post where his head had been with a loud clang. Megaman slipped past Zero's side behind his back, wrapped his arms around his waist and easily lifted Zero off the ground, then slammed him down on his side on the concrete, a splash of water erupted from the ground. Megaman tried to hold him there, but Zero threw his elbow into the side of Megaman's face, stunning him enough to slip on to his back and kick Megaman in the chest. A phantom pain radiated through out his entire body like a shock wave, making him cry out in a sudden pain, he became disoriented, he lost his balance and fell against the pole, sliding down to the ground.

It was becoming hard to focus, every second he could feel Zero deteriorating his focus, his will, his mind, like a…like a…virus. Suddenly he felt a sharp kick to his chest that smashed him against the pole and left him slumping to the ground, clinching his chest. "Unna" Damnit! He couldn't even focus! The phantom pain that resulted from the contact was unbearable. He felt like pain coming from places he didn't even have, giving him an even sense that he'd been ripped out of something larger. Zero climbed on top of him, clasping both of Megaman's hands and pinning them above his head. "…" The first thing to leave him them was the driving, fearing instinct to fight back, to get away from this thing that was dulling him. But it was gone, as if a veil of fog had covered it up. "… …" His body went limp and his struggling ceased before it had a chance to begin, he lay there, staring up at Zero, the driving rain fell into his eyes and blurred his vision but he didn't notice it at all. He was…lost…drifting, he couldn't feel his body anymore, he was falling asleep, he was being drawn towards Zero head first.

Lighting flashed in his half lidded eyes like an alarm and thunder roared over head, startling him back into awareness. "!!" Megaman flinched and threw his head into Zero's, sending a pounding crash of pain running through their heads. A wave of phantom pain shuttered through Megaman's body and the world felt clear and distinct again. The water that had run into his eyes that he hadn't noticed before now where an irritant, forcing him to clinch his eyes shut, the moment he was able to wrench his hands free he clamped them over eyes and began rubbing them. "Zero!" Megaman sat up right and pushed Zero off of him, crawling backwards and stumbling on to his feet. "Come on! Wake up in there!" Megaman pleaded.

Zero rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself up. The sound of rain was continuous, a sense scattering pounding, the ripples and imprints of each drop pounding into the accumulated water on the ground was a constant sight, the world was covered in a haze, the rain and dark clouds made it hard to see more then halfway down the street. Megaman felt lost, he forgot where he was for a moment. Zero charged at him, his expression and his presences was cold and calculating, Megaman wasn't sure if it was the thought clouding effect of Zero's presence but all of the familiarity he usually had for Zero was gone, he felt as though this were a stranger. Zero sent a swift punch to Megaman's head, Megaman slipped backwards and evaded it, Zero stepped forward with one long stride and threw another hard blow. Megaman crouched underneath and moved forward, throwing a series of hard punches into Zero's stomach, 'Unn!' With each contact a pain came from the place where he'd touched Zero, the phantom pains that came over him were piercing, like being cut by a blade.

Zero's body keeled forward from the blow with a sharp, voiceless cough, before the third blow could come he reached down and grabbed Megaman's neck and threw his knee into the former navi's stomach. "!" Megaman fell to his knees, his body racked the piercing pain. 'Damnit Zero…I don't wanna…' Megaman cried out with a sharp growl and sent a sharp punch upwards into Zero's chest, hard enough to echo a sharp, wet, pound in the air. He pushed past the pain, grabbing a hold of Zero's head and driving his own upwards into Zero as he stood. Zero was knocked on to his back. "Unnnnn!" Megaman clinched the top of his head and staggered backwards, his head felt as though a something had been cut off. The entire world was shut off for him, he couldn't hear anything, he was staring strait forward but his mind didn't seem to comprehend the images his eyes were giving him. "…"

Zero slowly climbed to his feet, cold, wide, green eyes fixated on the immobilized Megaman. He moved towards him, almost in a stalking manner. He grabbed on to Megaman's shoulder's softly, he didn't attack, he didn't move, he didn't seem to be outwardly doing anything. But Megaman's symptoms grew substantially worse almost immediately, his head felt as though it was encased in a block of concrete, his thoughts were non-existent, the only thing that remained was this pulling over his entire being.

Thunder crashed distantly, shaking windows, but to Megaman it was a low and distant clap, everything was…'No…No…' Megaman slowly shook his head, his eyes clinched shut, 'I gotta…I gotta…' Even inside his head he was stammering. 'Wake… up…wake-' Megaman willed his body to move and he pushed backwards, stumbling a few steps away from Zero. "S-Stop it!" He shouted, prying his eyes open and lunging forward blindly, and threw a punch into the side of his jaw. Zero stamped his foot back with a loud, high splash and stopped himself from faltering. He reached out for Megaman but Megaman speared forward, slipping under his arms and throwing himself into Zero, driving both of them to the ground. "Zero!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, planting one hand on his Zero's forehead to hold him down and then he began pounding into his face with a fury of quick, strong blows. "Come back! Just come back!" Every blow sent his mind reeling from the phantom pain it elicited, but he didn't care, he was desperate, in a frenzy. He didn't like this, he hated how Zero made him feel, he hated how lifeless Zero was, he wanted him back, he wanted him back so badly it hurt. "Just stop it!"

He got to strike 10 before the pain became too much to over come and he screamed in agony falling backwards off of Zero and on to his back in the accumulated water that had gathered on top of the ground. It was freezing.

A thick sheet of water dripped off of his head and his chest as Zero sat upright, seemingly unphased by the attacks on him. He slipped up off of the ground seamlessly, taking quick, calculated steps towards Megaman. With out hesitation he lifted his foot and stomped down on to Megaman's chest. "NNAAA!" Megaman cried out with a sharp cough, feeling the air and water forced out of his lungs and a pounding pain bruise his chest. Zero stomped down on him again, this time pinning him there. "Unnna…" Megaman hugged his chest tightly enough to make his arms tremble, he rolled on to his side and out from underneath Zero's foot, he inhaled and nearly got a mouthful of water.

Megaman realized at that moment he didn't stand a chance, he had something working against him from the inside, a virus that ate away at him. His mind was deteriorating and his body ached terribly. With this force integrated into his very being everything was futile. The fear in him grew deeper, the tight, anxious feeling covered his entire abdomen and his breathing was harsh. He had to get out of here! Megaman rolled on to his stomach and staggered on his feet. With out another thought he turned and ran in the opposite direction. He never wanted to fight in the first place, this caught him off guard, he wasn't ready for this, he wasn't ready to face Zero like this again.

Zero stood there and watched Megaman for a second, then he seemed to realize he was retreating.

Megaman couldn't see where he was going, the wind whipped a torrent of rain into his face, the storm draped the world in a wet, cloudy haze. His body was soaked, he could feel the cold pinpoints of rain making his muscles tense again, the farther he got away from Zero, the clear he felt. The pull on his body was lessened with each step. He wasn't sure how far he got until he couldn't go any farther. Finally Megaman stopped, he keeled over and pressed his hands against his knees, panting, gasping for air. He felt like he hadn't breathed for the entire fight, maybe he hadn't.

He was in front the lights of the hospital again. "…" Megaman fell to his knees and clinched his stomach, the rain slid down his face and dripped off of his nose and chin, the sidewalk and streets were bare. Horrible. He felt god awful, having to run away from him, he felt even worse because of what Zero had become and what Zero was doing to him. Why! Why did this have to happen to him! "Zero…" He pounded his fist against the ground and felt his eyes staring to burn with tears. Zero was like…a part of him, he was a part of him, they were both apart of each other! He felt as though he had lost a deep piece of himself, it hurt, it hurt like hell. He just wanted to have it back…

A sudden pull appeared on his mind. "!" Megaman stood up strait and looked around frantically for him, where was he? A stream of lighting shot down from the sky at a blinding speed and tremendous flash, after a void of tense silence thunder roared loudly over head like an explosion. He flinched and shuttered, he felt the pull shift to his side and turned around to see Zero coming towards him. "…Zero…" Megaman stood frozen and stared at him for a moment, a longing attribute coming to his eyes. "Damn…" He dropped his head, listening to the pounding rain like thousands of coins falling onto the concrete, feeling the rain stream in rivers down his shoulders. "Zero." He watched the approaching Zero intently, "I wanna talk to him just one more time." He said, he was speaking to himself but his voice was loud and desperate. "I just…wanna talk to him again." He was mumbling to himself, he felt outside of himself, in awe of how desperate he was, it was too much for him in this moment seeing Zero like this.

Maybe it's because he sensed what was coming, maybe it was the crushing dread of what he was certain was coming, what he'd known for a while. He didn't think he could bare going through this until he just saw Zero, the real Zero one more time! "Zero!" He was ready to fight this time, he wanted to pound the life out Zero if it would just get him back for one second, he needed his friend back! Megaman's entire body tensed, so tightly his body trembled. He bolted forward towards Zero but Zero's pace didn't change, golden eyes unphased by the wind and rain seemed to simply look past Megaman.

Maybe he'd never figure out what he was looking at.

"Hey! Hey!" Lan's voice burst out from behind the hospital's front doors, "No, wait!" Lan bolted out into the pounding rain, franticly he grabbed on to Megaman mid stride and pulled him to a stop. He coughed sharply. His breath was raspy and harsh, it was not as though he'd strained himself, it was more as though there was something in his lungs blocking his airway.

"L-Lan!?" Megaman looked down at the boy with statement, then back up at Zero. "What are you doing here?!"

"I was looking for you." Lan let go and pushed Megaman back, immediately turning to Zero. "Zero! Wait!" Lan seemed to ignore all fear and ran towards Zero, his motives were unknown to Megaman, but he could guess.

Flashes of what happened to Enzan ran through his head, he couldn't let that happen to Lan! "Lan! No!" Megaman immediately ran after him. "Stop!"

Lan didn't listen. It was captivating, it was fearful and shocking and exciting to see Zero in a body, seeing him standing here before him tangibly. He had to talk to him, he had to try, just seeing him made him think he could. His voice was cut off by a sharp series of coughs. "Zero! Wait a minute, listen to me!"

"Lan no!" Megaman grabbed Lan and pulled him back sharply, holding him captive in his arms. "Stop, you can't!"

Lighting flashed suddenly and startling as it streaked to the ground some place nearby it seemed, thunder crashed like a gun shot next to their ears. Lan struggled, his hands slipping across Megaman's forearms as he tried to push against them. "No! wait! Zero! Please! Just listen to me! Please! I know you in there somewhere, just think! Think about me, think about Megaman, think about Blues!" Lan screamed, he coughed. "Your in there somewhere! Just-"

"Lan stop!" Megaman sharply yanked Lan back a few steps as Zero grew closer, he was constantly fighting Lan every step of the way. "He can't hear you!" Megaman told him.

"Just let me try!" Lan's breathing was worse now, it could be heard over the torrent rain in sharp wheezing like sounds. The water that soaked both of them was what gave Lan just the small slack he needed to slip out of Megaman's arms. "Let me try!" He was crying by now, though it was masked by the rain. The thoughts of losing him the first time weighted over his chest and seemed to be slowly crushing his heart. He couldn't lose his friend again, he had to try! "Zero!" He shouted, bolting off towards Zero at a full sprint.

"Lan! Stop, no!" Megaman ran desperately after him, knowing he had to stop him!

Lan got 5 feet before his steps came to a grinding halt sending him falling to his knees with a splash. "Un…"Lan clinched his chest and rolled over onto his side, clinching into a semi ball. He was out of breath…

"Lan!" Megaman dropped down in front of Lan and pulled him upright, "What's wrong!?"

Lan tried to speak but he too out of breath to speak, he his breath was simply a series of heaves, interrupted by a sharp cough.

Before either of them knew it, Zero was standing over them. Megaman flinched, and Lan was to tired to notice. Oddly enough, he didn't move, he paused for some reason. Zero looked down, his eyes still seemed to be looking past them. "S-Stop…trying to save me!"

"!!" Megaman flinched and began pulling Lan back, getting about a foot away before he could stop long enough to scoop Lan into his arms and stand.

By the time he looked up again, Zero was gone.

"….?" Megaman looked around protectively, and suspiciously. He felt the clouded pull that came with Zero's presence slowly fading, he was really moving away? "What the…" He looked down at Lan again and remembered. "Oh man, Lan you shouldn't have come out here." Megaman bolted him off into the hospital.

! - ! - !

Enzan rubbed his eyes softly and groaned. He let his eyes roam inanely towards his arm where the tube was slowly releasing a clear liquid in his left arm. He found himself staring at it often, some how mesmerized by it in some way. "Damn, I hate this thing." Enzan snorted, he lay listlessly in the bed, his shirt tossed aside laying on top of bare sheets in only his unbuttoned and unzipped pants. He was hot.

Hot was in understatement, he was blistering, he was boiling from the inside and bubbling up sweat. He felt a drop sliding down the side of his face, his entire body was matted and shinned with sweat, it didn't seem to help cool him any, he was just wet. "Blues, what's that temperature on?"

"It's as low as it can go." Blues told him. The P.E.T next to Enzan's chest, connected to a panel in the wall so he could control devices in the room.

"Fuck!" He growled. It had to be freezing in here but he didn't feel a hint of chill, it was…this damned liquid they were putting into him, what ever it was! He was groggy and tired and his eyes were starting to redden, he could even see a hint of yellow forming around the edges. After nearly a week of this medicine, with all the adjustments made to whatever they were giving him, he was reasonably close to saying that he felt worse now then before this treatment started. Before he got weak quickly, his legs started to hurt, and they gave way. Now he had those problem and a random assortment of more. His legs hurt all the time, he was always sleepy, right now he felt feverously hot, and flu like symptoms were starting to arise among other things. Not to mention a few panic attacks, he was hesitant to admit those.

"Are you alright?" Blues asked, a reluctant concern evident in his usually stoic voice.

"If I say no…" Enzan's voice broke with a sharp yawn and a barely audible exhale, he wiped away the sweat on his forehead with his arm. "What are you gonna do?"

"Hn." Blues snorted and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Enzan was silent for a moment, staring down at the IV in his arm. "Are …_you_ alright?"

Blues pried one eye open and glanced timidly at Enzan, immediately feeling embarrassed that Enzan needed to be concerned for him. "I'm fine." He said, just like he always said.

Just like Enzan always said. And Enzan knew the thoughts and feelings hovering around in the back of his head behind the frustration and annoyance, Enzan knew he rarely gave as second thought to that question, just like Blues. "Hn…" He simply shrugged and accepted it, it was easier for Blues that way. "Damn, that thing can't go any lower!? I burning up." He grunted in frustration.

Blues sighed, "I'll go get some one." He said. "See, I'm not completely useless."

Enzan smirked. "Guess not."

Blues went through the connection, but almost immediately returned, much to Enzan's surprise. Enzan lifted his head slightly. "What?"

"I'm not sure…But I think I just felt-" Blues' words were obstructed mid-sentence by a spontaneous generation of static and distortion. "That."

"I won't bother asking if you think it's Zero." Enzan's voice was strained as he slowly sat upright, the ever present weakness in his legs made it harder for him. "But here? How in hell did he get here?" Enzan asked suspiciously.

"We know how he _got_ here." Blues retorted anxiously. "Why did he come _here_?"

"What the hell are you asking me for, he's here someplace, go find out." Enzan reached over to the side of his bed to a small night stand where a phone rested, he picked up the receiver and heard nothing but a dead silence. Then he pressed the nurse's call button and got no response, not even a single beep. 'He's definitely in this room.' Enzan began digging through the drawers of the night stand and quickly found his cellphone, he didn't even bother to turn it on here.

"The last time I left you alone like this you nearly drowned." Blues hesitated.

"Don't worry, there's no water around this time." Enzan shot back. He slowly eased his legs over the side of the bed, and pushed himself on to his feet. "This is really dangerous…" Enzan said, watching his monitor screen begin to distort and flicker, the sight was… unsettling. "That interference around all this equipment the hospital uses, for all I know it could shut down somebody's respirator or something. You…" Enzan's eyes shifted away and his head lowered. "…have to stop him."

"…Yeah."

"Good luck."

"Hn."

"And…I'm sorry." Enzan said reluctantly.

"…" Blues shifted once, and with a visible second of hesitation he left the P.E.T.

"Blues…" Enzan felt a sinking, stomach churning, throat tightening guilt. "Damnit!" He wished he could be with Blues in someway during this, Blues had to do something that would kill him inside, and Zero, he missed Zero, he wished desperately that it didn't have to be this way for virus. He couldn't even be there.

He could hate himself and fate all he wanted after this was over, right now he had to do something. Enzan picked up his cellphone and grabbed on to the rack holding his IV bag and left the room, leaning on the rack like a crutch. He stared down at his cellphone, following it like a map while he wondered farther down the hall with out looking up once to see where he was going. He could hear the calamity of the doctoral and nursing staff on this floor begin to calmly panic about the sudden malfunction of all of the instruments and equipment, the traffic and the noise started to grow at a rapid pace, but he all but tuned it out. Moving until he finally saw a single bar of signal strength reappear on the cell phone's screen.

Then he called Tadashi next to the waiting room window, a good distance away from his room.

"Mr. Hikari."

"Enzan? Where are you, I can barely hear you."

"I'm still at the hospital, Zero's here."

Enzan could hear the man sigh on the other end. "Alright, I'm on my way."

"Do you have a plan or something?" Enzan asked, just out of curiosity.

"Yeah. Go find Blues and bring-"

The call abruptly dropped, Enzan pried the phone from his ear and looked down at it in frustration, then out the window at the driving walls of rain that were sweeping across the city by means of strong winds. It was probably the storm's doing. 'Man it's really bad out there…'

Where was Lan, and Megaman. He had to go tell them.

! - ! - !

Blues immediately froze the moment he got into the system, staring in awe at the red, hazy fog that was slowly devouring this world from the edges outward. He could see paths, directories covered in the haze, now impassable and all roads slowly, very slowly, closing. The air was hot and dry and the sky was a light pink, slowly turning blood red, he was filled with a familiar terror, in this place he felt as though he was walking into a ragging inferno and the building was collapsing around him, sealing all exits until he was trapped and devoured by the heat.

"Zero!" He called out, looking around aimlessly, desperately. "Where the hell are you!?

He heard a soft groan from the path on his left. "?" The road was half covered in the red fog as if it had spilled over from some invisible wall, "Damn…" He didn't want to do this, he could see himself getting trapped. 'Wouldn't be the first time he nearly got me killed.' He took a deep breath and a second of hesitation before he darted forward, slipping past the creeping fog and on to an open stretch of road behind it. "?!" Before he could even see it fully there was a ghost that appeared in a sudden ripple and darted through the air at him. He had little time to do anything but flinch and lift his sword in a half raised defense, it did no good, the transparent projection of Zero passed right through him, sword, armor and all, and slashed deep into him. "!!" Blues clinched his chest where the blow had come from and cringed, looking around for the offender only to find it had already disappeared.

It only added to his tension. He'd have to ask Tadashi what those thing were…eventually. Sometime long after this was all over maybe, maybe he'd never ask or want to talk about Zero at all… God this was hard, he hadn't even found Zero yet and it was hard. Blues narrowed his trembling eyes and raced forward nearly blindly again. Damn this was hard, he didn't want to move, he didn't want to find Zero.

But nothing ever went his way it seemed, he inevitably, after 4 ghost attacks, stumbled across Zero.

Zero had fallen on his knees and was clinching his head, soft moans and whimpers of pain slipped out of his clinched mouth. Blues felt his heart pound and a cold chill descended his body through is veins, he wanted to run to him and grab him and hold him tightly. "Zero." He knelt down beside him and laid his hand on Zero's back, his first impulse being to ask if he was alright. He hated that impulse, it was always annoying as hell when someone asked him that, he wished he could just figure out something else to say at this point. "How…bad is it?"

"B-Blues?" Zero peaked an eye open and looked up at Blues, he smiled softly. "I…" He started to reach out and wrap his arms around him and hold him as tightly as he could. But he froze mid way and his arms recoiled and hugged his chest. His entire body ached.

Blues watched him for a second, then he closed his eyes and softly wrapped his arms around Zero, resting his head on Zero's shoulder. "….I'm sorry…" He half mumbled.

Zero rested his head into Blues' chest, he wanted to remain there forever, even with the pain. He wished time would just past them over, that he wouldn't revert back to what he'd inevitably would. "…I love you…"

"I love you too." Blues said. He felt like crying and he wanted to bang his head up against the wall for the swelling rush of depression that triggered the urge.

Zero wrapped his arms around Blue's chest in a timid, weak embrace. His hands trembled and his grip was limp and lose, he was afraid to hold him, he was afraid to be near him, it was clear. But he wanted it so badly, he needed to touch him, to feel him, he missed him so strongly it became hard to breathe when he thought about it. "…You gotta…do it now."

"…" Blues ran his hand up the back of Zero's neck and slipped his fingers under the back of Zero's helmet, prying the head armor off, listening to it fall to the ground and roll on to it's side. Then he gently stroked the back of the virus's neck with his thumb subconsciously, he could have been doing a million little things right now with out realizing it. He wanted to scream and yell at him for talking this way, for giving up, but…and Blues sincerely wanted to kill himself for thinking this, he felt a piece of him die at this very moment… he knew he might have to… "I hate you."

"?" Zero lifted his head questioningly, he wasn't sure if he'd heard what he just heard. "What…?"

"I hate you, you know that? You did this to me, you're the reason I feel like hell…Maybe if you hadn't have been so damn stupid. Maybe if you would have listened to me damnit!" He half shouted, his grip on Zero tightened, drawing questioning and confused looks from the virus.

"Blues?" Zero tried to say something, noticing the hold was starting to become painful.

"You spent all of your goddamn time hating yourself, killing yourself…For fuck's sake, you should have let me protect you damnit!" Blues yelled, screamed at the top of lungs, his arms confined Zero with all of his strength, so tightly that they trembled, his entire body was trembling from tension.

It hurt, Zero stared up at him with confusion and uncertainty, unsure whether he should push him away or burry his head in deeper and see if Blues could suffocate him. He knew how pitiful his thoughts were, they weren't half as pitiful as how he felt. Zero felt Blue's arms crushing his own and bruising his muscles.

"Damn you! You should have just let me protect you, but no! You had to keep fighting me! Every step forward and you drag your self ten back! How the hell was I suppose to save you if you were fighting yourself!?" He screamed, the trembling through out his body growing more intense. "You just made me waste my time! Why did you keep coming back around! Why did you keep talking to me! Why did you make me feel like I was saving you If you were just gonna let things end up like this!?"

Zero had all but frozen, feeling the pain more intensely then ever, he was confused, and afraid. He didn't care if Blues was hurting him, he wanted him to hurt him, he deserved for Blues to hurt him, he…needed Blues to hurt him. But what he was saying, the expression his face that seemed to be contorted in pain, the harsh, choked breathes and the pounding heart beating through Blues' chest against his cheek. He scrambled to comprehend this, why was he doing all of this?! If he was gonna kill him just do it!…Why did it hurt so much to hear him talk like this… Zero tried to speak but he was abruptly cut off by a furious Blues.

"Fuck! Why didn't you let me save you!" Blues' voice cracked and a harsh sob broke out of his mouth. He broke down after that, burying his head into Zero's neck, tears flooding his eyes. He couldn't stop himself, it was as if he'd lost control of his body, as if some jolt had forced his body into a string of motions before he even realized they were happening. "Why did you make me feel this way?… You were dead damnit! I watched you die! I _felt_ you die…Why the hell did make me think you were stay around?" He didn't let go, he couldn't let go, he couldn't stop crying.

Zero didn't move at first, then he closed his eyes and slowly hugged Blues' back. "I'm…sorry…" He said softly.

"Don't tell me that."

"I guess I was always just meant to die.." Zero half whispered. "I didn't want to hurt you, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I guess…It would have been better if I had stayed away from everyone."

Blues lifted his head, looking down at Zero with his eyes narrowed, trying his best to fight away the rest of the tears. He hated crying more then he ever imagined he would, and he hated himself for crying, especially in front of Zero. He was always strong in front of Zero, he had a sense of pride in that, that was who he was. And to be like this…"You really don't know do you?" He said. "You keep talking like that, you are not a screw up ok, every bad thing is not because of you, it's in spite of you. The only thing you did was to yourself."

"Yeah…maybe I did." Zero sighed. Maybe if he had of fought harder, or had he fought at all, if he had tried to dispel those feeling of resentment he had so strongly for himself, or tried to quell the two sides of him ripping each other apart, if he had tried to conjure up the will to live through the horrible pain… then maybe he wouldn't be in this position.

"I don't wanna do this…" Blues murmured softly, whispering. Then he spoke loudly, like one loud grief stricken sob. "I don't wanna do this damnit!" More tears flooded down his eyes, he lived each moment in the feel of Zero's warm skin and his body in his arms. It was all he thought about, at that moment Zero was his everything.

"I know you don't…" Zero tilted his head upwards and felt himself starting to cry also. What had happened? He'd been set to die twice, he'd been ready, he'd been at peace with his fate, with what needed to take place. Now look at him, he was crying, he was watching his hands slowly lifting to Blues' arms and clinching them tightly and he was powerless to stop them. He never wanted to let go, damnit he wanted to live! Damnit…he wanted to live… "I wish you didn't have to…"

"Just….stay like this a little longer…" Blues whispered, closing his eyes and laying his head on Zero's shoulder, he kissed his neck softly. "Please…"

Zero dropped his head, a sharp sniffle came and a something that almost sounded like a whimper, tears blurred his vision and fell into his lap. "I can't…you know I can't-." Zero was cut off and he wished that he hadn't been, he felt his throat tighten and his chest began to heave, it was hard enough trying to say it once, he didn't think he had it in him to repeat it.

"Just try, for once of your life just try!"

"I wish I could…God, I wish I could!" Zero felt Blues' hand stroking the back of his neck, it made him tremble, every touch sent him farther and father over the edge. Damn, he wished Blues' would stop, he wished Blues' would let him go, he wished Blues' would stop crying, he was making this hard! How was he supposed to go to his death now? With all of these feelings flaring up inside of him hot and heavy, he began to feel afraid. Goddamnit, he was actually afraid to die now. He was full of doubt, he wanted to do so much, he wanted to spend more time with Blues, and Megaman, and Enzan…and Lan, he missed Lan so much. "You gotta do it now!"

"You bastard…" Blues lifted his head and looked over Zero with a hard glare. "I can't do it, not with you… like this." He couldn't! He couldn't just kill him like this, with him sitting here, crying, shaking, the self hating, idiotic, kind, energetic, depressed, loving, loyal, selfless, half-virus he'd groan to love more then his own life. How the hell could he just kill him? He'd never be able to live with himself at all, he'd never be able to bring himself to do this. It felt so impossible. "Damnit! Why the fuck to things have be like this!"

Zero took in a deep breath and quickly rubbed his eyes with forearm, his voice was hasty though riddled with grief. "I gotta go then." He said, pulling away, out of the grasp of Blues' arms suddenly.

"H-hey, wait a minute." Blues scrambled to his feet at the same time Zero did, reaching out for his arm but missing. "What are you doing? Where are you going?"

"I-I don't know." Zero clinched his eyes shut and began walking forward at an increasingly growing pace. "I have to get out of here, I can't be here if your not gonna do it." He was terrified, damnit, why did he have to become afraid now!?

"But…" Blues' steps slowly eased to a halt, he knew Zero was right, he couldn't stay here, not in the hospital, making all kinds of problems with out even trying or even being full aware what effect his very presence was having on everything else. Maybe it was a self fulfilling prophecy, Blues thought, Zero had always said he was doing nothing but causing problems, he had been certain that just being around would make trouble. Maybe if…he hadn't believed it so hard…

Zero's wings stretched out and he paused for a brief second, looking back at Blues. "I…love you."

Blues felt his throat choking again, he could barely speak. He felt like being selfish, he wanted Zero to stay no matter what it did at that moment. But no, he couldn't do that, that was never him, he couldn't do that sort of thing. "I…love you…too…"

And then he was gone.

And Blues was alone, he felt like dying, he felt like falling to his knees, simply caving in and crying until the immense sorrow left him. But he didn't, he did his best to hold himself together, he stood there, staring at the ground silently, trying his best to draw the strength and will to just move, to take his next breath. He would, he knew it would eventually come to him, if he just waited long enough.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"…Take a deep breath…"

Lan nodded and closed his eyes, feeling the physician's hand supporting his back and the cold metal of a stethoscope pressing against his chest. He took in a deep breath and opened his eyes, trying to measure his status in the doctor's eyes, he could draw nothing from it. He took in another deep breath, his eyes drifting around the room, he looked over at Megaman sitting anxiously in a chair beside the bed, watching the doctor watch him. He wondered if Megaman could catch a cold, the former navi was still damp from the rain and Lan could feel a chill, it was freezing in here…

"One more time." The man said, Lan immediately began to grow annoyed, wishing the man would take this cold metal off of him. He shivered subtlety, where was the heat?! Lan closed his eyes and took in a deep breath '!!' Then he keeled forward and coughed harshly enough to make his chest ache, it took him a half a minute to get it under control again. 'Ow…' Lan's hand drifted to his chest and he studied the doctor's face again, this time finding a clear disconcerting look on his face.

Each inhale he took was abnormally deep as though something was stuffed in the bottom of his lungs, his rib muscles retracted visibly with each one. "What?" Lan asked, he could tell the news wasn't particularly good, "What is it?"

"It's not a cold or the flu. It looks like you have a pneumonia." The physician said. "All of that blood in your lungs must have caused it."

Lan dropped his head and sighed with a sudden birth of frustration. "Aw come on…" he half muttered. "You can't be serious."

"I must warn you that this could cause some complications with your…current situation."

"What do you mean complications?" Lan asked.

"Well… with your lungs in the state they're in right now, this could deteriorate them even faster. How long have you been breathing like this?"

"I don't know, a few days." Lan shrugged, looking completely confounded. "So what's going to happen to me?"

"Not anything necessarily." The man tried to reassure him. "We're just going to monitor you a little closer and we'll let you know if there's anything you should really worry about."

"Yeah, sure." Lan dropped his head, feeling nothing but awe and mild frustration at his constantly worsening condition. He wasn't sure whether he should be afraid, or to simply let it go because he could do nothing about it anyway. He felt weak, so weak that sitting up made his muscles tremble with strain, he slowly eased himself back on to the bed and clinched his eyes shut, he was tired, he simply wanted to go to sleep. His thoughts radiated around how much he hated whatever cocktail of chemicals they had flowing through his veins, how was it possible for something to make him feel so horrible?

"I'm going to have to do a chest x-ray to be sure, and then I'll let you know news from there." The doctor said. A knock at the door came, and the doctor knowingly looked over his shoulder, "Tammy?" He called out, the door opened halfway and a young girl in blue scrubs peaked her head in. "Could you call radiology, I need to schedule a chest x-ray, high priority-"

"That's what I came to tell you about r, there's a major, _major_ back up, it seems something's wrong with the equipment…? Or something, and the computers, everything's crazy up there. "

The physician gave her a quizzical look, then looked back at Lan. "Excuse me for a moment." He said, lifting a finger for patience before leaving the room.

"Oh man…" Lan clinched his forehead with both hands, "I just can't seem to catch a break." He felt himself dip down in the bed softly as Megaman sat beside him, he could feel how close he was by the way his own body heat seemed to reflect back on to him.

"Don't worry so much Lan." Megaman said. "Nothing ever run's completely smoothly."

"You can say that again." Lan sighed again. "You know what…I'm not worried this time, I just want to hurry up and get all this stuff over with. I'm sick of this hospital…" He missed his room, he missed his bed, he missed trying to sneak past his father in the living room…

The door peaked open slowly and Enzan stuck his head in, "Lan?" His expression immediately became relieved, he moved slowly, limping slightly, "Why the hell does you room have to be on the other side of the building." He nearly collapsed into a chair, grasping deeply for air.

"Enzan?" Lan sat up right and pried his eyes open with visibly difficulty. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He waved his hand dismissativly. "Zero's here, he's in the system."

Megaman and Lan glanced at each other and then back at Enzan. "We just ran into him outside."

"Wonderful." Enzan sank down in his chair and was still, trying to resist the urge to simply fall on to the floor and stop moving until his breath and strength returned to him. "That explains it then I guess."

"That must be why all the nurse said of that equipment isn't working." Lan said, "Where's Blues?"

"Fighting him right now…" Enzan's expression took on a tent of anger and frustration at this. 'Damnit! I should be there! But I can't do anything, I can't even see them.' He'd never felt so utterly useless. "Your dad's on his way, he says he has a plan. That's all I could get out of him before the call dropped." It was futile to try and call him again, with Zero in here and the storm outside.

Lan rubbed the back of his neck and looked up idly at the ceiling. "I don't get it, he hasn't infected anything else, this is the first time any of us have seen him in like a week, why would he come here?"

A silence followed, creating a heavy oppression on the room. The sound of rain pounding against the window seemed to grow louder, and a rumble of thunder could be heard echoing outside.

"I think I know why…" Megaman finally said, he crossed his legs and slumped forward, staring at his lap. "He's looking for us to kill him…"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Tadashi wasn't completely sure what to expect when he came down from the 10th floor where his office was and took his first step out of the front door. But he honestly could say he didn't expect what he walked into. A violent stream of rain came pounding down from the sky on to him, bursting winds swept past him, feeling as though they would rip his clothing away, and sending the cold rain pounding into his face. He lifted his arm to his forehead to keep the rain from his eyes and keep his glasses from falling, he had to tilted his umbrella towards the winds. It was dark, even though it was near noon, even with the streetlights. He lifted his head and peered outward, testing how far his vision would reach.

The tall skyscraper was at the edge of two main roads, being downtown nearly every building was at a main road. He could just make out the street signs not more then 100 feet away for him, Stark, and Emarry rd. "Damnit…" He mumbled to himself as he looked down Stark, he could see a large pool water had accumulated there, he wasn't quite sure how deep. Even the road right beside him, Emarry, was coated with a lest a few inches of muddy water. It seemed a month of nearly non-stop rain had taken it's toll on the city's sewer infrastructure.

Tadashi slipped his suitcase under his arm and began for the parking garage, the rain began pelting his side, a harsh, continuing wind sent ripples through his clothing and pushed them to the opposite side. "I keep losing things…where is my jacket." He grumbled, his eyes idly watching the still water that covered the road. "Why do I always lose things when I-"

There was an intense flare of blue light that flooded everything around him, making him flinch. In a split second the light dimmed them pulsed brighter, a loud buzzing, sizzling, electrocuting sound. He turned in just enough time to see a bolt of lightning that was connected to a light pole fade and a rain of bright sparks falling to the ground along with a few power lines. "…" He stood up strait and looked around, watching with a quiet interest as the signs of local stops flickered and dimmed before going dark one by one, the streetlights in the area followed. "!!" Tadashi flinched again when he looked behind himself, expecting to continue gazing out upon the dark buildings but instead he found himself staring a soaking wet Zero in the face. "Z-Zero?"

"Tadashi…" Zero's eyes were sullen and his head down cast, his body was slumped slightly, holding a depressing demeanor to it.

Tadashi closed his eyes and breathed a small sigh of relief. "What are you doing out here? It's pouring!"

Zero looked at him with a small bit of pride in his eyes, "Even now your worried about me. You're an amazing guy Tadashi…" Zero smiled faintly. "Why are you worried about me, you're the one that could catch a cold."

"All of this rain and wind, it has to be doing something to you." Tadashi felt himself starting to softly smile also.

"What could happen to me? But wouldn't that be ironic, a virus catching a cold?" Zero's laughed a dark laugh at this, and for a moment his eyes weren't as wonton and sullen.

"I don't know, maybe you'd rust." Tadashi said, he took a few steps forward until he was face to face with Zero, then he lifted the umbrella up above both of their heads.

Zero closed his eyes and his smiled brightly. "Thanks." He said, the he opened his eyes and a sheepish look came on to his face. He took special note of just how much higher Tadashi had to reach to cover both of them with the umbrella. "You are so short!"

Tadashi's face grew an almost childish defensiveness to it, it reminded Zero of Lan. "I am not short, I'm a normal height for my weight."

"But not for your age." Zero responded with a playful snideness. Then he laughed, and it felt strange, he hadn't laughed in so long, and to actually feel happy for a moment, at a time like this…

Tadashi adjusted his glasses. "That's not funny."

Zero lifted his hand and rested it on Tadashi's head to simply emphasize the height difference between them. He buried his fingers into the wet brown strands, his smile becoming distant and forlorn when he looked at Tadashi.

Tadashi was annoyed at his actions at first, but those feelings quickly faded, his eyes drifted closed and his senses scattered in the rain. A silence developed between them, both became focused on the storm, the harsh winds that pushed against them, the driving winds partially blocked by the umbrella. Thunder burst from the dark sky like an explosion, making both of them flinch from the monstrous noise.

"Zero…" Tadashi sighed and fought himself not to look away. "What are you doing?" A question.

"…I'm not doing anything." Zero said, he slowly and reluctantly removed his hands. "I've been trying. I've been trying to stay in control of myself but…I'm fading." A shameful admission.

"You always were pessimistic." Tadashi said with some audible frustration. "You-"

"That's all there is to it Tadashi." Zero cut him off, he had to speak loudly over the rain, but the sound reminiscent to thousands of scraps of metal falling to the ground was enough to drown out depression in his voice, and the instability. "Pretty soon there's not gonna be anything left of me. You have to know that." Depression.

"…" Tadashi looked away this time, his eyes focusing on the haze of rain pounding into the many puddles with wide ripples. "Why are you here?" The same question. probing deeper.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you come _here_?" Tadashi asked, his voice lowered, Zero almost didn't make it out over the rain.

"I came here…" Zero paused and looked down. "To see you I guess, I don't know." Muddled in confused feelings.

"Why didn't you just leave? Just go somewhere…" As painful as it was, as heavily as that thought weighed on Tadashi, he genuinely wished Zero had just done so. It would be easier knowing he was alive somewhere even if he never got to see him again, easier then the alternative that was enviably coming. Tadashi watched the dark clouds illuminate with a flash of lightning, followed by a harsh burst of wind that made his body shutter and an eruption of thunder loud enough to send vibrations through his body. "You can't want to die…" Tadashi just didn't believe it anymore, not after everything that's happened. It couldn't be, not after the way he acted and spoke. "You can't…" A blind shot at reaffirming his hopes.

Zero watched Tadashi begin to tremble slightly from the cold, and he began to wonder why he wasn't wearing a jacket or something. Zero wrapped his arms around Tadashi and hugged him tightly, he knew he was wet but a wet body was better the none at all… But that wasn't the reason he was doing this, he was keenly aware of it, it was just an excuse. "Your so forgetful Tadashi, It's cold and wet out here, you could have at least worn a jacket. Where you in that much of a hurry?" Retreating from hope for the fearful certainty of it's failure.

"Zero?" Tadashi didn't move, he stood idle, holding the umbrella over their heads, staring over Zero's shoulder at the almost fogy haze the mass of rain veiled the world in. "Your wet." Allowing the retreat, wanting the retreat.

"Sorry about that…It's just…" Zero clinched his eyes shut and fought back the tears burning in his eyes, he buried his face into Tadashi's neck and basked in the warmth there, memorizing every detail. The way he felt, the way he smelt, how soft his hair was against he side of his face, the cool metal of his glasses, the way he had to bend down to adjust to their height difference. But he didn't mind that, he loved Tadashi's shortness. "I never got a chance to do this and I always wanted to." Please Tadashi, Zero thought, don't make him let go now. If he had any compassion at all for a person who slowly dieing inside their head then he would let him stay like this, at least for a little longer.

Tadashi dropped his briefcase, closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Zero, letting his forehead rest on Zero's shoulder. He never realized just how much taller Zero was then him until he did that. He wondered just what other things he never realized about Zero and struggled to think of them all in this moment. A small silence followed, the comfortable, sentimental gap was filled with the turmoil of the storm. The rain was a thousand loud whispers, the wind was cold howl, the thunder was explosive. Tadashi could hear the water that flooded the streets splashing against the curb.

Zero smiled that fake smile he always had, speaking with a laugh even when just smiling was a challenge. It was habit for him, to slip back into this way of acting so it wouldn't seem as though all of this hurt so bad. To try and ease Tadashi. He did it with out thinking, it was almost a part of his personality. "I noticed you stopped saying you'd save me." Distancing himself from hope he once believed.

Those words felt like a dagger in stomach. He'd been thinking about that constantly, it tormented him, echoing in his head with a horrible guilt eating inside of him. And when he heard Zero say that, something in him nearly broke. His arms clinched around Zero tighter, silently begging his forgiveness Tadashi stepped back and let go. "I'm…so sorry." He said, his voice becoming depressed in a way Zero had never heard, his head dropped and his eyes trembled, clearly wanting to look away despite Tadashi's best attempts to fight the urge. " I'm sorry." Begging for forgiveness.

It was painful to watch Tadashi try to keep his composure, it hurt to see him so sad and it was even worse to know it was all for his sake. He felt ashamed, ashamed for being what he was more the ever now, because Tadashi had tried so reverently to change what he was, to save him from himself. He felt as though Tadashi had to hate him now, because there was nothing left of him but the virus, a thing only good for being despised. Zero reacted just about instinctively, his mask intensified, a small smile came to his face as he tried his best to remove some the depression and guilt from Tadashi. "Don't feel so-" He was quickly cut off.

Seeing Zero slip back into this defensive facade only made him feel worse. That was what Zero did, he hated himself and he hid himself. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me…" Desperately trying to make Zero understand how sorry he was, how hard he'd tried, how hard this was for him to let go of his hope.

"Tadashi no, don't do this!" Trying just as hard to dispel Tadashi's guilt and sadness.

"I promised you. You have to know I don't want to give up, I kept trying, I kept trying but there was nothing. I couldn't find anything." A soul crushing guilt

Tadashi felt his body trembling for another reason. This had to be the hardest thing he ever had to do, he'd tried as hard as he could to save his friend, but he couldn't find anything. Damnit…he shouldn't have made that promise. But he wanted to save him so badly, and he didn't want Zero to give up on himself either.

"This isn't your fault. There's nothing you could have done, I wasn't expecting you too." Zero said desperately, wanted do badly to erase that look he saw on Tadashi's face. It hurt, it hurt so much! He wished he had never had a life, he wished what freak accident had created him never occurred. Why was he born in the first place? He was fated to die from the beginning, a malicious worm like him couldn't have possibly been part navi. When he thought about it, it was amazing he lived as long as he did. "I'm a virus, I always was, you can't change that." Embracing the defeat of one's self .

Tadashi sighed, clinching his head with both hands. The umbrella was pulled back by the wind far enough to be ineffective and the both of them where pounded with cold drops of rain. "That doesn't mean you have to die." Tadashi said. "Why don't you just leave, go some where, I know you don't want to die…Why…Why do you keep coming back?" Desperately clinging to Zero's life.

Zero didn't respond immediately, his eyes shifted away from Tadashi, looking at anything but the man. "Why'd you hide it from me?"

"?" Tadashi looked at him questioningly. Lightening flashed brightly, making him squint and tense in anticipation for the thunder he knew was coming. "Hide what?"

"I know you found something that could kill me, I know you did, that's what you do. There's no way in all that work you didn't find a way to kill me." Zero said almost resentfully. "Why didn't you just do it!? You knew there was no way to save me, do you know what I went through! Do you know how horrible it feels to be doing all of this and not being able to stop yourself!? You…You let me have all of these feelings I have for you guys, just to end up like this. Why'd you put me through this…" Resentment.

Zero felt tears burning out of his eyes, mixing inconspicuously with the cold rain pelting his face. Blues…Tadashi… Maybe it he was a little angry at Tadashi for failing, for making him believe there was something that could be done for him. He'd invested a small part of himself in that hope, waiting for Tadashi to find something. He wouldn't have been angry if Tadashi had found something that had failed, but to come with nothing at all?

Tadashi finally looked away, he couldn't stand to look at him anymore, he couldn't possibly talk about what he was going to talk about and look Zero in the eyes. "You have to understand what your asking me…It's not that easy, you're my friend, why would I possibly want to kill you?" Tadashi said sullenly. "Could you just kill Megaman or Blues?" A proportional relation.

"…"

"I don't understand Zero…Why…why do you keep coming back? Why don't you just leave, go somewhere you can't do any harm….I don't think I can go through with this." Indecisive with fear and pain.

A silence followed between them, an awkward, painful gap filled with rain and thunder.

"…You know…" Zero tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. "I never understood it…you always got this distracted look on your face when it rained, and you always started looking out the window and you'd always seemed distracted by it." His words seemed to come out of nowhere, Tadashi thought that he was simply avoiding things at first. "I always felt like you were hiding something." Zero smiled. "I guess I knew you too well, you always were hiding something…" He paused for a moment, then looked back at Tadashi. The man had moved close to him again, holding an umbrella over his head with a particular care. The tears on Zero's face were more apparent now. "I'll tell you why I keep coming back if you tell me why you always zone out when it rains." Morbid curiosity.

Tadashi stared at him, a clear indecision playing out on his face.

He always could talk to Zero, he always felt as though he could open up more when he was with him. Zero has probably seen more of him then just about anybody else. He trusted Zero in a way, he knew Zero wouldn't hold anything against him, nothing he said or did could change the way Zero looked at him. He wondered what exactly went through that mind of his, what he thought about when he was by himself, what things he thought about deeply. Tadashi wished he could have had time to figure it out. "Your really going to make me do this?" A defensive reluctance.

"Yeah." Zero nodded, "I want to know." He wanted to know more about Tadashi, he always did. He was drowning here, struggling to take in as much as he could before he went down. Maybe it was pitiful, trying to live now that his life was over, why didn't he ask this sooner? Why didn't he do a lot of things…He felt ashamed of just how pitiful he was. The sincerity was clear in his eyes, he didn't hope to accomplish anything in this, he simply was curious.

Tadashi sighed, his hands reached up and subtly readjusted his glasses. He felt the wind shift and the rain began to pelt his back, his shoulders and halfway down his chest was soaked, his clean white shirt cling to him and became half transparent, showing his t-shirt underneath almost clearly. "Well… Remember I told you about that time I was hit by a car?" He said. His hand drifted down from his glasses to his collar and began tugging on his tie, losing it with sharp pulls.

Zero nodded. "Yeah. I don't think I could forget something like that."

"Well, I didn't tell you everything about that."

Zero nodded again, he'd sensed that. "Yeah."

Tadashi tilted his head upward and stared at the sky with a morbid fascination, one hand was working skillfully on unworking the buttons, a task that had had years of practice. "It was a day like this, I don't remember too much of it…but it was raining really hard just like this." He was stalling, he didn't like stalling. "It was my father."

Zero gave him an incredulous stare, "What? But...how?" A horrified astonishment.

Tadashi's wet shirt hung open, swaying softly in the wind, Zero's stare grew more puzzled. "I don't know, drunk maybe, my memory is still a little sketchy for everything before and after that. If I remember correctly, from what I was told, I was knocked away a partially, he, however, ran into a pole behind me." He said. "We were both in a coma for a while, by the time woke up he'd already died." A silent remembrance.

"I'm sorry." Zero said. He looked away.

"The only thing that makes me sure it actually happened is this…" Tadashi turned around and lifted up his t-shirt, reviling a large gash across his back. Long healed over with scar skin a different shade of pale pink the rest of his back, it had clearly stretched with his growth, it was oddly shaped, going broadly across his lower back and also stretching up from the center to the bottom of his right shoulder.

Zero froze, his eyes fixed on the old wound. His eyes lowered in a sullen gaze, he seemed to become entranced with it, watching the stray drops of rain that slipped past the umbrella on streams of wind and slid down his skin. "Tadashi…" Zero found his hand slowly reach out and did nothing to stop it as his fingers grazed softly across the skin. Zero could feel Tadashi tense, then slowly relax. "…" Zero pressed his hand against the center of the scar, in his lower back, "I'm sorry…" Residual guilt.

Tadashi would have chastised him for apologizing for something he had no control over, but this time he simply shrugged and watched the rain.

"Tadashi…" Zero moved slowly and cautiously, his entire demeanor was questioning, he wanted to do something but he was unsure of himself. His hands slowly slipped from where they were pressed on Tadashi's back and wrapped them around his torso. Then he slowly pressed his forehead against the tip of the scar under his right shoulder.

Tadashi closed his eyes and felt him there, for a moment he could feel some of what Zero felt, the depression, the longing for something tangible to hold on to tightly, the loneliness, and empathy. Tadashi indulged himself despite his best attempts not to, he shouldn't have let Zero hold on like this, it was just making it harder for the both of them. But he couldn't fine the will to do anything about it, he was wet, he was cold, but still he couldn't force himself to pull away.

He felt a warm wetness against his back, Tadashi didn't have to look to know that Zero was crying, he could feel it in the way his body trembled against his back. "The strange thing is…" Tadashi opened his eyes, looking up thoughtfully. "If it wasn't for the pole, I would have died and he would have lived, there was nothing behind that pole, he would have been fine…It was my father's life or mine, and sometimes I find my self blaming myself for that." Guilt.

"…" A stronger guilt.

"You can't blame yourself for things you have control over Zero." Tadashi told him. Finally he pulled away and Zero reluctantly released him, he turned around and looked in to his glowering eyes and over his slumping, depressed form. "None of this was your fault. No one is angry at you, no one blames you." An attempt to relieve that guilt.

"…" Zero only nodded and looked away.

"…And thanks Zero." Reverence.

"For what?"

"For letting me get to know you. " Thankfulness.

Zero nearly broke out in to audible sobs, he clinched his eyes shut and bit down on his lip to quell the small cries threatening to break free from his tight throat. "Tadashi." He couldn't help himself, he threw his arms around the man and hugged him again, resting his head against Tadashi's. "Thank you." He said in a low, trembling voice. "For everything." His last act was planting a small kiss on Tadashi's forehead before he backed away, quickly rubbing his eyes to remove the rain and tears. "Your still short." He said with sad smile.

Tadashi fixed his glasses and closed his eyes. "I 'm not short, I'm a normal height for my weight." Subtly reaching out one last time for Zero.

Zero gave him one last look, absorbing everything he could about this moment in a short glance, then he turned, and bolted off into the storm.

Tadashi could tell already that Zero was losing himself again, and he knew where Zero was going to end up.

"…Goodbye Zero." Goodbye.


	28. Chapter 28: The weather part 2

Chapter 27: The weather part 2

_This is your severe weather watch team interrupting this program to bring you up to speed with what's going on. Lets get right into it and take a look out side with Doppler 5000. Just one look on the map sums it up, These areas in red represent _

_an extreme severity and as you can see there are quite a few of them. As long as that tropical air that's been hanging over us like it has is there there's a possibly for rain and severe weather, and it looks like this one is gonna be a big one. Chances are if your watching this you can see the strength of these storms for yourself, there are widespread reports of flooding, it's very dangerous to be on the roads in certain areas. Look at all of these lighting strikes, especially in these southern counties, were also getting reports of high wind speeds and hail in some places so be careful of that. What I really want to bring your attention to is these areas, we're picking up quite a bit of rotation so if your in these counties take shelter immediately. Don't even sit here and watch this news cast, go to the lowest levels of your homes. Let see if I can Zoom in…Doppler 5000 storm cast showing street level now, with the first squall I can see the cell showing rotation approaching emarry road and stark, so if your in one of those areas... Wait, we have breaking news just coming down the wire, your first alert forecast at work here We have unconfirmed reports of funnel clouds..._

The rain seemed much worse inside of a car then outside of it, at lest to Tadashi. A torrent of water pounded down on the windshield and windows with a thunderous roar, the view was distorted and burry, the wipers had trouble keeping up with the sheeting river intent on coating every inch. Tadashi came to a rough stop in the center of an empty road, in front of an impossible pool of standing water that encompassed the entire 4 way intersection. "Come on…" He grunted, pounding his hand against the steering wheel, debating with himself should he chance a crossing or not. After a few idle seconds of thought he decided against it, shifting in reverse and making a rough, sliding half circle and then pulling off into the opposite direction.

The roads were empty, eerie in their silence, aside from a bare few that he passed by occasionally. He wondered why that was, there were strong storms of this caliber all the time, and they were never enough to clear out a downtown road like this. It was unsettling, the sole sound of the thick drops of rain pounding against he steel hull of his car was an constant reminder of just how silent and empty the roads were. A nervous, anxious feeling began to bubble up into the center of his chest forming a pressure around his lungs and heart, he could sense the stress building. "Weird…" Tadashi squinted his eyes and peered out on the dormant road, scanning through the tall, encroaching structures, watching a few indistinguishable forms dart down the side walks, holding any items they could over their heads. Then it was empty again.

His car hydroplaned through a sloshing collection of water in a small dip of the road, two walls of water shot up around both sides with washing sound, then he rose to the top of a small hill and turned. The sound pounding of rain became louder and harder, as though small rocks were falling on to his car. "What the…" He leaned closer and could immediately see the cause, hail, chunks of ice a little smaller then golf balls.

A loud, shrill whine suddenly flared to life, echoing through the roads at a deafening emission. Tadashi flinched and his heart began to pound in his chest from the sudden fright, and continued to pulse rapidly from confusion and anxiety. 'What is that?!' Tadashi came to a sharp halt, he knew that sound, he knew that sound! He tried to think of the source but the only thing that came to his mind as he looked around was how bad a time it was for a memory lapse. "Damnit." It was much harder to see out of these windows then he'd first realized, so with a strong anxiety and a confusion slowly producing a building fear, he opened the door, grabbing his brief case and climbed out of the car. His already damp body was immediately soaked again by the heavy rain and he covered his head with his brief case in a meager attempt to protect himself from the hail, the sirens blaring even louder.

"Where is that coming…" His voice trailed off in silent awe when he looked up, his mind when cold and blank with fear when he saw the massive black cloud in the sky churning. It seemed to be over flowing, seeping out of the ocean of other black clouds and slowly spilling towards the ground, it seemed close, terrifyingly close, and massive his prospective. "T-Tornado…" Now everything made since, the near empty streets, the scrambling people, the sirens. He watched in a morbid, tense, frightful interest as dust, dirt and debris rushed up from the ground to meet the other half . It was close, he could see the massive rotation, though still barley, eclipse the large tower where he'd just come from. "Damnit!" He cursed to himself for the second time and climbed back into the car. A man with much less obligation might have opted to take shelter, but he had to get to hospital, right now.

Tadashi barreled forward with a now more lose regard for the speed limit on the empty streets, he could only hope he didn't run into anymore impassable roads.

! - ! - !

"Your x-rays do show a growing amount of liquid around your lungs, and the amount does give us reason for concern." The doctor said.

Lan slowly at up on in his bed and scratched his head, he felt groggy and irritated that he'd just been woken up, again. A growing resentment started to form in him, he was resentful that everything that was given to him seemed to make him sleepy, and weak, at a time when he felt obligated to, at the very lest, stay awake. He stretched his arms behind his head and felt a dull pain in his chest that made him rethink the action, instead he simply yawned and readjusted his shirt, "So…what does that mean?" He asked, his voice heavy with tired breaths.

"You will need surgery, and we are going to have to expedite that surgery given your…prior condition."

Lan glanced over at Megaman sitting by the window with a curious watch on him, and then Enzan who was sitting in a chair half asleep, though slowly awaking with new interest. "Now that you mentioned it, what are you gonna do about this stuff?" Lan held up his arm where an IV was still connected to a half empty bag of medical cocktail he knew nothing about.

"Because of the risk of drug interactions, we're gonna take you off of that for a while, at lest until after the surgery is over." The doctor explained. "This is a very routine procedure so you have nothing to worry about. We're going to insert a tube through the skin and into the chest cavity to drain the fluid. It won't take _too_ long."

"You said your going to expedite the surgery." Enzan suddenly spoke up, his voice growing more alert by the word. "Expedite it to when?"

"We want to do it today, in a few hours if we could." He said. "So we're going to have to start prepping you for surgery, and remove that IV…Oh and I'm going to have ask you to stop removing the patient's gown."

"The only way your getting me into that thing is if I'm unconscious."

The doctor went about explaining the procedure to Lan, going into details and giving instructions before he finally left.

Lan sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his arm softly, happy to have the IV out of his arm. "Man…I guess it's gonna be over after this." He dropped his head and sighed. "With my luck they'll find fifty more things wrong with me and I'll never get out of this place."

Megaman slipped his hands into his pockets and sat down in front of the windowsill, "Don't say things like that Lan, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I don't think it's gonna happen like that this time." Lan leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees and cradled his head in his hands. "Nope, I think this time I'm pretty screwed."

Enzan smirked with a dark humor. "What happened to all of that optimism you always have?"

"I don't know…" Lan shrugged. "I'm just tired I guess…I wonder where my dad is." He stared down at the ground with the eyes of a small child suffering separation anxiety. He hadn't missed his father like this in as long as he could remember. "He said he was on his way right?"

Enzan's eyes took on an increased interest as he watched Lan. "That's what he told me." He leaned forward and gauged Lan's slumping form and anxious expression. "But I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"I guess."

"Hey guys…" Megaman closed his eyes and concentrated on his hearing, "Do you hear that?"

Lan and Enzan both looked back at him. "Hear what?" They book asked in unison.

"That sound…It sounds like…" Megaman leaned closer to the window, but it was of no use, he could see nothing but a wet blur. "A siren."

The lights dimmed and flickered, drawing questioning glances from the 3 of them. Then the room went dark, leaving only the battery operated glow of Lan's monitor and LCD display of Lan's disconnected IV. "What the hell?" Enzan pushed himself out of his chair and slowly stood to his feet, the room was illuminated in split second flares of lighting like dozens of camera flashes, he flinched. Then there was an explosive roar of thunder that rattled the windows, it startled him so much he nearly fell back down.

Enzan's P.E.T flared back to life as Blues re-entered it from a port in the wall it was connected to.

"Blues', what was that?" Enzan asked. His eyes remained fixed on the silhouette forms of Lan and Megaman. "Was it Zero or something?"

"No, the power went out." Blues said, he narrowly made it back, having to find his way to battery operated systems and navigate as best he could.

"Is it the storm?" Lan asked.

"You guys don't know? There's a tornado outside!" Blues barked, "It just touched down."

The three of them looked around at each other in the dark, an anxious, fearful, dreading silence persuaded in disbelief for a few seconds.

Then the door opened and the dim illumination of emergency lights shined in from the hallway. It was the nurse, Tammy. "Excuse me, but you three are going to have to evacuate this room." He said, her voice was calm and firm, she seemed aptly prepared for this. "All the patient rooms on the corner of the building or in the outlying perimeter are being cleared out."

"But aren't all the patient rooms on the outer perimeter?" Lan asked. "They all have windows. So does that mean every room is being evacuated? Where are all of these people gonna go?"

"Don't worry, there is plenty of space in the interior of the building. This is just a precaution." She said.

"Precaution my ass." Enzan grunted. "That damn thing is headed strait for us isn't it? That's the only reason you'd move all of these people like this."

The expression on her face wasn't clearly seen, but it was felt in the dark. "I said, do. Not. Panic. This is just a precaution." She said curtly. "Lan your surgery has been postponed until farther notice, there's a wheelchair on it's way up for you."

"I can make it just fine." Lan protested.

"Nonsense, it'll be here in a minute. " The nurse said, before leaving the doorway.

Lan clinched his forehead. "A tornado? You have got to be kidding me!" He groaned, a new fear finding it's way into his voice. "My dad's probably still out there."

"No way." Megaman tried to reassure him. "After all of this time I'm sure he's here by now, he probably just can't up here right now."

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here but…" Blue's voice trailed off for a moment… "Look at your monitor Lan."

Their attention turned to the battery operated monitor measuring Lan's vital signs. The image wavered and distorted with burst of static, "Now? Right now?" Enzan looked around in a frustrated disbelief, he was amazed at how when one thing went wrong, everything else seem to go wrong. "Why'd he come back?" Enzan grasped his head and sighed in frustration.

"The thing was he never really left." Blues admitted reluctantly.

Enzan's voice became slightly less resounding. "Is… that was what you were doing all that time?"

"I wasn't taking walk." Blues snorted. "With everything shut down there's really only a few places left for him to go…unfortunately since this place is running on generators the only things that are actually working are emergency services, the most necessary systems and lights…and…there's a tornado outside, what the hell are you all standing here for?"

Megaman peered out the blurry window staring out into the overcast white sky on the horizon beyond the thick black clouds above, the haze of dirt, dust, debris and rain fogging the air, and most fearsomely large back swirling mass of wind that took up half the window. "What are the odds it's gonna hit us? Tornados are unpredictable, they change course all the time." Megaman said nervously, trying to be reassuring. "But…I think we should leave right now."

Lan stared over his shoulder out of the window with gaping wide eyes, he froze at the sight, entrapped in fear and amazement. He'd never seen anything like this so close, and to think that such a fearsome power was coming strait towards them, to actually watch it tear across the city right at them was... "Yeah… we should go." Lan pushed himself off of the bed, taking in a deep breath as he stood up strait, his heart pounding, fear flowing through his veins like ice. His mind was racing with out developing one thought, he was flooded with a mild panic and a wash of hectic stress. "But…Zero, do we really have to…I mean now-"

"I don't want to this either." Enzan sighed. "But we have to do this now, I mean there's a tornado going through downtown, this place is gonna be flooded with injured people and with Zero here, they're not gonna know what hit them. This place is gonna be-"

"Yeah, I know." Lan nodded, grasping the door knob and pulling it open. "We don't have a choice I guess, but how are we supposed to find him?"

"We just have to look." Megaman reached over Lan and held the door open for his two companions and they slipped into the hall. It was as though entering a new world, through dim lights they could see people flooding into the halls, the only safe place at such a level. Their thoughts were slowly being drowned out by the calmer of voices, some low and calm, some fearful, some loud and yelling. Having been struck by this suddenly there were little people in place to keep order, any staff on the floor was busy rushing to evacuate patients. It was the beginning of chaos. "They're probably going to want to prevent people from leaving the floor and going off around the hospital, we better hurry while we still have time." Megaman said.

With Megaman proceeding first, the three of them made their way through the cluttered floor with expeditious steps, weaving through all of the faces up and moving about in a constant disarray. They made it to the stairs without incident, slipping in and quickly shutting the door behind them. The clamor of chaotic noise was dulled to a faint murmur and their vision was demised even father, it was dark, dangerously dark, only the red glow of exit signs near the doors, and limited emergency lights, leaving most places a dark recess. They could hear wind blowing harshly, a faint, almost ghostly sound, became a haunting ambiance that filled each square foot of the tower like structure with a hard, uneasy tension. Just the thought that a tornado was barreling towards them was enough to incite panic.

Enzan caught a glimpse of Lan's face in the pale red glow of the exit sign, he could see the fear in his eyes, the taunt expression, his tightly clinched jaw. He could hear his harsh breaths trembling and he saw Lan's hand shaking, Lan tightened his hands into fist and took his first step down the stairs. "Lan." Enzan whispered softly. "Scared?"

Lan looked up at Enzan with a startled expression, then turned his head and stared forward, never keeping his eye's focus on one thing. "Why do you ask that?" Lan said, his voice was surprisingly strait. Then he looked over at Enzan timidly. "…Are you scared?"

Enzan nodded. "A little." He admitted, it was easier to admit when he knew Lan felt the same fear he himself felt, but his prime motivation was to console Lan. He didn't know exactly how to do that so he prodded around carefully, for once actually seeking for Lan to open up to him. Maybe he simply wanted to confirm that he wasn't the only one feeling this fear, something he'd so often conceived as a weakness. "More nervous then anything." The nervous and anxious bubbling from his stomach in to his chest felt suspiciously like fear.

"Yeah…" Lan's eyes rolled around from one thing to the next, avoiding Enzan except for those few seconds Lan forced himself to look, or their eyes met by accident. "Me too." He admitted with apprehension. His heart seemed to beat harder, not faster, pounding against his chest, though it didn't feel as though it where pumping any thing, a pressure around his lungs made his breathes labored. He was terrified, he clinched his fist even tighter to steady his hand.

There was nothing he could really say to ease Lan's fears, unless he could say something to make it all go away, Enzan knew that. So he simply reached out and grabbed Lan's hand, his eyes strait forward the entire time and his figure tense.

Lan looked over at Enzan, then down at the hand latched on to his own before looking away as well, squeezing Enzan's hand tightly before Enzan slowly withdrew it.

A sharp sound echoed up from below, like rattling metal, like the railing on the stairwell. A sudden surge in the wind's muffled howl made Lan finch and the dampened noise from beyond the hospital's walls grew a little louder from panic, creating a steady line of tension in the three of them. "What was that?" Megaman ran over to the railing and leaned over the side peering down into the darkness, he could barely see beyond the next level.

"It probably was just somebody, there are a lot of people around here." Enzan told them, truthfully he didn't want to know, he didn't want to find anything, not now. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Go to the basement." Blues interjected. "He'll show up sooner or later, right now there's a goddamn tornado coming at us."

"Maybe you two should go." Megaman suggested. "We can't let Zero mess up this equipment, especially not now. And Blue's will never get there on his own." Megaman paused and looked back at the two, coming to a landing where the emergency lights didn't come close to piercing the darkness. He could barely see Lan and Enzan's shadowy figures against the distant red glow. "And there isn't much you guys can do in your condition anyway."

"We can't go back now!" Lan protested. "I still have to find my dad, he said he had a plan didn't he?" His main motivation for wanting to stick by them was fear, he was terrified, the darkness gave birth to more fear of what he could not see, the haunting echoing sounds made his heart pound and his mind race. He had to fight off the urge to cling to whoever was near.

"…" Megaman rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the ground. "I'll look for Tadashi, just worry about…" Megaman's voice trailed off and his mouth was left hanging open slightly. His body was suddenly awash with a sudden wave of oppression, his head felt heavy and cloudy, and his body felt that soul wrenching pull and biological attraction, "Whoa…" It was strong and came without warning. "He's-" Megaman didn't have time to utter another word before a solid weight, a body, came plummeting down from above right into his chest, knocking him backwards on to the thin bar of the railing and the oppressive weight pulled him over the edge with it. A strangled cry of pain tore from his mouth as he tumbled downward, entangled with the other body.

"M-Megaman!" Lan barely had time to flinch and realize what was happening before it was over and Megaman was gone. The boy darted to the railing and leaned over with a frantic haste. For his efforts he was just barely able to catch a glimpse of the two body's in the view of another set of emergency lights below before being swallowed by the darkness. "It's Zero." Lan said, knowing he shouldn't have been surprised by that, but it had caught him off guard none the less. Lan pushed off the railing and immediately bolted off down the stairs, a hectic fear running through his blood like adrenaline.

"Hey Lan!" Enzan called out, immediately running after him. "Wait a minute!"

Lan ran as far as he could as fast as he could, descending seemingly endless amounts of stairs until his chest burned and his air starved lungs never seemed to get enough in one breath to make a difference. He was so tired he nearly collapsed against the railing, managing to grab a hold of it and ease himself down on to the stairs.

"D….Damnit…" Enzan coughed out, fairing far worse then Lan was. His legs grew a dull, throbbing ache that quickly became unbearable from the stress put on them. "Why'd you run off like that!?" Enzan slowly eased himself down beside Lan, rubbing his legs softy, they felt as if they were burning, like boiling water was bubbling up from inside his muscles. He simply didn't have the muscle mass to keep up anymore.

"Mega…Megaman." Lan coughed sharply and cringed, clinching his chest with heavy audible breathes. "I gotta find him…He can't…take on Zero…alone." Lan paused, simply breathing for a few seconds until he could regain the stamina to finish a sentence. "You've seen him, he'll just space out."

"…Your right he will." Enzan said with a silent curse. "But that was stupid, you don't even know where they are. "The stairwell was devoid of any distinct sound aside from the howling of wind and the clutter of people beyond the doors,

Lan looked up the door in front of him, they'd stopped at the first floor, and the basement was the level below them. They hadn't fallen from that far, and Lan was sure he'd seen them plummet past the second floor. "They've gotta be on the first floor or the basement." Lan said with a certainty. "We have to find them."

"So you want to split up?" Enzan asked questioningly. "That's a horrible idea. I mean look at us," They were in no shape to be going anywhere, let alone anywhere by themselves. He hated himself for the weakness, and even more so for actually having to admit it was a severe as it was.

" There's no choice, we have to hurry!" Lan protested again. "I'm gonna go the basement and see if I can find them, You check the first floor. Even if you don't find Megaman, you and Blues have to stop Zero anyway."

Enzan glanced down at the P.E.T on his waist grudgingly. "Damnit. He's right you know."

"The one time I need you to listen to me and you just go off and do whatever anyway." Blues commented with obvious aggravation. "You both are idiots, but I guess at lest Lan's gonna be safe, it's better then nothing."

Enzan sighed. "Sorry Blues." He said apologetically, a depressing guilt eating at his insides. He knew all of Blues' anger wasn't coming just from his and Lan's reckless abandonment for safety. He was apprehensive, he was stalling, he didn't want to fight Zero, he didn't even want to see him right now, he didn't think he could bear too. "But it looks like I'm gonna need your help one more time." He sighed.

"…" Blues narrowed his eye and looked away. "Fools."

Lan pulled himself up, haste still burning through him. "I gotta go." He held on to the railing tightly, moving at a much slower pace.

"Be careful Lan." Enzan called out. "If you die down there I'm kicking your ass." Enzan watched Lan give one last look back before he disappeared in the darkness.

Enzan sat there for a moment, waiting until the pain in his legs eased enough to move, basking in a half awkward silence with Blues. Then he took in a deep breath and stood up, opened the door and was met with a murmured roar of seemingly a hundred voices, it was almost overwhelming. 5 men were standing around the elevators, clearly security guards and hospital staff, trying to pry the doors open in a clutter of words and orders. 'Must have stalled.' He thought to himself. He looked around in awe at the multitude of people inhabiting the floor, some of them standing idle with fearful uncertainty, others rushing about with their own purpose, all among a loud blur of millions of words. "They'll never keep this place under control…" Enzan said with a remorseful tone as he did his best to slip in-between the obstructing crowd, he could hear the sirens and see the flashing lights of an ambulance blazing past the front door towards the ER outside. It was regrettable, he felt a nervous remorse and a pity, he knew this hospital wasn't ready for this, especially with the power out and a certain virus interfering with equipment. But he knew all he could hope to do was try not to let him slow them down more then he already was.

"This is stupid." Blues growled. "You don't know where the hell he is, and look at where you are!" He indicated the many hazards around him. The fact that the lobby had a glass ceiling, no matter how reinforced it was, and a crowd of half panicked people.

Enzan could only apologize for his recklessness, feeling a stomach churning guilt for the torment his Navi was going through. "Sorry." He half mumbled. He felt a cold, moist burst of air flood the room as the front doors were pried open. Much to his surprise a cold, drenched, flustered Tadashi rushed in, a briefcase under his arm. The man hadn't spotted Enzan at first and immediately began rushing towards the elevator, on his way to Lan's room no doubt. "Tadashi!" Enzan called out, alerting the man to his presence.

"?" Tadashi looked back and saw Enzan, immediately rushing over to meet him. "Enzan?"

"Are you alright?" Enzan took note of his appearance, and his nearly frantic pace, all of it made him seem flustered. But now that he stood next to the man, his demeanor seemed far more composed then he'd first seemed. The way the man always seemed to hold his composure amazed Enzan, he couldn't help but look up to him to a certain extent, which was why his appearance worried him so much.

"I'm fine. What are you-"

"You said you had a plan right?" Enzan curtly interrupted. "The power is out, this place is only going off generators, people are piling into the ER and Zero's screwing up all the equipment, this place is circling the drain."

Tadashi felt then tension in Enzan's voice, adding to the stress in the atmosphere. Tadashi was tapped in that tension and the anxious energy that fueled him grew with it. "Yes, I have a plan." Tadashi nodded, lifting his briefcase. "Where's Lan and Megaman?"

Enzan shifted his eyes away, it wasn't until he was about to explain himself to Lan's father did he the idea of splitting up draw the most aggravation and regret for Enzan been. He wasn't looking forward to telling Tadashi that he hadn't kept track of his son, especially now. "Lan is looking for Megaman. Zero ambushed him on the stairs and we…kinda lost them. Lan's searching the basement." Enzan glanced up into Tadashi's eyes for a quick second and immediately looked away. He burned with shame under his gaze, it made him want and explain every circumstance that had driven them apart and to plead for understanding.

Tadashi, as Enzan expected, wasn't happy about that. "It was his idea wasn't it."

"Yeah."

"I'll bet." For the third time that day he silently cursed to himself. "Alright, since he's under ground he should be safe for the moment. We have to put this in action and then I'll go look for him." Tadashi said, he began moving with quick steps towards another wing of the hospital while they heard the woman at the information desk start to call out for the attention of those scattered about the lobby.

"Where are you going?" Enzan ran after him and quickly matched his pace, "We don't know where he is."

"Not specifically, no." Tadashi said, navigating the halls as though he knew his way around. "But every one of the hospital's servers are located in the same place on every floor, since the power is out most of the other systems around the buildings are out, the back up power is going to only the most instrumental networks and servers, our best bet is that he's in one of these servers." Tadashi said. "We're going to check those first."

"How do you know that?" Enzan asked.

"I was the one that put them there. My company implemented and still manages this hospital's networks."

"Sound's good I guess." Enzan nodded. "But what's the plan?"

"It's not complicated really…" Tadashi's words became a lot less confident and slowly grew softer and reluctant. "We're gonna jam his signal, pin him down in one place so he can't escape, the rest is up to Blues…speaking of which, let me see him."

Enzan handed over his P.E.T silently, his eyes wondering the entire time. He felt as though he was betraying Blues by handing him over to Tadashi, they had developed their own rules of engagement so to speak, many of them were silently agreed upon things that wouldn't discuss. Things that were detrimental to the other's pride, to their emotional state, truths about themselves that neither wanted to face or admit. Planning Zero's demise was one of them, Blues would have rather been thrown into this fight ill prepared then to premeditate it. To actually it out…the very thought was almost too much to handle. "Tadashi." Blues said with anticipation, not giving the man a chance to speak. "Every time I'm near Zero I see these…these ghost that appear out of nowhere and disappear just as soon. They can hurt me but I can't touch them, I can't even defend against them."

Tadashi closed his eyes and sighed silently, answering his question. "That's the interference you're seeing, the physical embodiment at lest, with all of that random data floating around sometimes you get a malicious code. The stronger the interference, the greater instances of them… That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, you see, there is a way to kill-"

"Why does he come back?" Blues hastily interrupted again. "After I fight him he always comes back to his senses."

"Well…" Tadashi shifted his eyes away from Blues with a bit of frustration, this wasn't easy for him either, this was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Why couldn't Blues see that? Did he have any idea the horror, the overwhelming guilt and shame he felt when he had to think all of this out? How many times he simply had to stop and stare out the window at the rain, silently apologizing over and over as if Zero could hear him. He didn't want to do this either, he didn't want to think about this either, not only did he have to be the one to explain it, but he had to live with himself for designing away to kill the person he promised so adamantly he would save. "No complicated answer for this one. He's simply doesn't like pain, it's a defensive measure, the virus part of him reseeds."

"And what about when-"

"Blues." Tadashi interrupted this time.

Blues stared up at him for a few seconds in awkward silence, then Blues narrowed his eyes and looked away. He cursed his weakness and lack of resolve, he didn't want to deal with this, he didn't have the strength to do this, not now at lest.

Tadashi felt the conflicting urges to say so many things to Blues right now, but nothing he said could have been the right one, nothing could make any of this better, or relieve the sorrow and guilt and pain. "…"

"Alright…" Blues murmured grudgingly, he had to force himself not to stall, he had to hear this. "So what is it?"

"…Zero has a weakness." Simply thinking those words felt blasphemous to Zero, he couldn't have hoped to describe how wrong he felt after all of those promises he made to Zero. After telling him all those times he was going to save him and all he had to show for it was a way to kill him. He felt…wrong…this depressing grief that crushed his heart. "When I was going through the logs that were created when Zero and Megaman were processed into body, I noticed that both of their logs are mirrored in places, they're equal opposites so to speak." He explained. " Places where there is viral data in Megaman and also Navi data in Zero and vice versa.

"If Zero can use the infected against Megaman, then there must be a way to use the navi part of Megaman against Zero. The way to do that is to use the same process, Zero effects Megaman by trying to infect other data and create more viral data. So we simply inject Megaman's data into Zero." Tadashi said. "I created a worm that simply writes over any data with key files of Megaman's system. It's like a password that opens a file so it can be deleted. The Navi data destroys the virus data and vice versa and both are neutralized it. They just cancel each other out."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Blues timidly asked, his voice filed with resentment.

"A program for you." Tadashi dug into his pocket and retrieved a small case containing a flash drive, then connected it to the P.E.T. "It's an upgrade for your sword."

Blues simply went along with it, falling into a detachment of sorts. "Hn."

"There's only one problem." Enzan said. "We don't know which Zero's the real Zero and which one is just an infection or whatever it is he's using to be at two places at once."

"No, we don't." Tadashi agreed. "We'll have to kill them both…" Tadashi was amazed at how easily the words flowed out of his mouth. Maybe he had grown a little detached also.

Enzan looked away also and an uneasy silence descended between them. The explosive sound of thunder rolled over head with a deep, bass filled roar.

! - ! - !

The silence immediately made Lan tense, possibly more then the haunting murmurs of the stairwell, it filled him with dread and anxiety. As though maybe some sudden object of fear would spontaneously appear and catch him off guard, or the ceiling would creak, breaking the silence, and fall on to his head. 'Creepy…' Lan took cautious, apprehensive steps forward. The bright florescent lights that usually illuminated off the white concrete walls and white tiled floors were dead, leaving only the emergency lights mounted on the walls to show the way. The illumination brightened the center of the floor it shined upon in a spotlight, and left everywhere else dim, most corners where nearly pitch black.

"Megaman!" Lan called out, listening to his voice echo faintly. He started to feel as though he were making a mistake in calling out like this, the darkness and silence made him fear the unknown, and screaming at the top of his lungs drew attention from the unknown that created his fear. 'Where is he? Where did they go?' "Megaman!" Lan called out again, wondering aimlessly. "Megaman!" He called for the third time, and the moment the words left his mouth he heard a soft sound echo through the tunnel like halls. "!!" Lan flinched and immediately looked behind him, then every which way he could. "Megaman?" He was still, feeling a drop of sweat inch it's way down the side of his face and listing to his own heavy breaths as he anticipated the sound again.

He could hear the faint though rapid sounds of footsteps and other scuffling sounds that were too mixed to decipher. Lan looked towards the left side of the hall where it came from and ran towards it. 'There's gotta be someone—" Lan didn't get more then two steps before something firm and strong, an arm, wrap around his neck and pulled him back. "!!" Lan panicked and his mind raced faster then the world as he felt himself being pulled against a firm chest and pinned there. He was screaming in his mind in fear, screaming at himself to struggle and break free without having to think it once. "Z-zero!"

"Lan!"

Lan heard Megaman's voice and from the corner of his eye saw a dark figure bursting in from his side faster then he could keep up with. There was a strong impact that resonated through Zero and then tremored through out his entire body as Megaman punched Zero hard against the side of his head. The blow carried enough force to knock Zero off his feet and send him sprawling to side, pulling Lan with him as they both landed hard on their side and Zero's grip became non-excitant. "Megaman?!" Lan rolled away from Zero and scurried to his feet at Megaman's side.

"Are you ok?" Megaman asked, studying Lan's dim form in the darkness as best he could.

"Yeah, what about you?" Lan asked, trying to do the same.

"I'm alright."

They both watched as Zero began to stir at the edge of the spot light, quickly sitting upright as if unphased by the blow completely.

"Megaman…you know that-" Lan's voice cloaked up slightly and he clinched his eyes shut, quickly trying to push back the tears that suddenly swelled up in his eyes.

"Yeah, I know." Megaman reluctantly nodded, his eyes shifting from Zero to Lan continuously. Zero climbed to his feet and moved toward Megaman with intimidatingly steady steps, the embodied virus had a fearful presence. Silent, overbearing, aggressive with out furry or any emotion at all, he was constantly blank, Megaman was never sure if he was doing anything at all against him. "You have to get out of here Lan."

Lan knowingly eased back a few steps, out of striking distance. "I just… wish I could help you."

Megaman gave him a sullen glance before turning his attention back to Zero. "Lan, that is the last thing on earth I'd ever want you to do."

! - ! - !

As Tadashi and Enzan neared the storage room on the sixth floor of a non-patient area, a burst of static erupted from Enzan's P.E.T. Enzan, Tadashi and Blues all froze and looked at each other for one eternal, ominous, breathless second. The sound of strong winds and hail pounding against the side of the building echoed across the walls. This was it. None of them wanted to move, none of them wanted to act, but…they did. Tadashi pried open the door, revealing the uniform towers, bright with small green lights and blue glows. "Enzan, go ahead." He said, knelling down to open his briefcase, containing a small box with two rubber antenna protruding from the back.

Enzan nodded. "This is it Blues…"

"…" Blues didn't respond.

Enzan looked around awkwardly, Blues could see he wanted to say something though he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it, he didn't even want the attention of Enzan right now. "…It's alright you know…" Enzan said. "To feel guilty, and to be sad or whatever." He could have laughed at himself, telling Blues these things when he was trying to act in the same manner as he was. The same detached, disregarding demeanor, as if this wasn't effecting the both of them. "Cause…uh-"

"Your really bad at this." Blues smirked in amusement.

Enzan rubbed the back of his head and laughed softly. "I know."

Blues knew what he was trying to say, he always understood Enzan, even when Enzan didn't always understand what he was trying to say himself. It was simply there, like a vague feeling, something you can't describe completely but know is there. Enzan, and Blues for that matter, exuded this vague feeling, it was something that was hard for others to comprehend, but to them it was perfectly natural. "…Sorry." Enzan half mumbled.

"I know." Blues said, looking away awkwardly.

"Good luck."

Blues nodded, listening to haunting sounds of wind. "Be careful."

"Aren't I always."

"Tch."

Enzan connected the P.E.T and Blues went through, an upheaval of static quickly filled the void, shutting them off from each other. Enzan found himself unable to do anything more then stare at it, as if in shock or disbelief. His mind was blank, only a wash of feeling was left in him now.

Tadashi was silent as he pushed the power switch, quickly tuning it to a preset frequency and activating it.

! - ! - !

Megaman felt the subtle clouding over his mind intensify, his head began to feel heavy, as though it was encased in a sudden weight. It distracted him, it was tormenting, it felt as though he could simply shake it off but nothing would remove it. He was brought back to attention when he felt a hard punch strike him across the face, sending a wave of phantom pain emanating, he placed his foot back to catch himself just as Zero reached out and grabbed him by his neck. "!!" Megaman grabbed Zero's wrist and pulled away, pushing Zero back. 'I guess this it.' Megaman thought to himself. He was nervous, afraid even, his throat went dry and he felt his stomach trembling slightly. He wasn't sure if he could win let alone kill…

Zero stumbled into a shadowy corner, and emerged from the darkness with the same emotionless persistence. 'I can't just stand here.' Megaman scolded himself. He knew he had to put all of his weight into this fight or else he didn't stand a chance, just like the other times. So he took in a deep breath and swallowed, trying to push down the choking feeling in his throat, and ran at Zero. The short distance between them was quickly filled, Megaman lunged his arm out to grab him but Zero moved back with one long stride and punched him, hammering down on him from the top of his head, sending him plummeting towards to the ground, a wave of phantom pain jarring his body. With a small outcry of pain, Megaman planted his hands against the ground and moved hastily to pick himself up. But he wasn't fast enough, Zero slammed his foot down onto Megaman's back and knocked him back down. "Unnn…"

The will he'd gathered for this fight, to do the necessary evil that needed to be done, was the first thing to leave him. The cloud surrounding his head grew thicker and heavier. The pull he felt became all encompassing "…" Megaman stared outward but his mind ceased to process what his eyes were showing him, "N…no…" He felt heavy, the pull began to feel comfortable, as if it was lifting him out of this weight… "…" He was falling asleep….

"Megaman!" Lan called out, almost angrily. He fearlessly bolted out into the dim light and rammed Zero with a sharp push, it was enough to force the virus off of Megaman. "Hey! Get up!" Where Megaman's mind had gone dormant, his was racing.

"!!" Megaman flinched and pushed himself up onto his knees, the sleepiness draining from his body at the sharp and distinct return of a hard pain. He could feel an entire body that wasn't there. "Lan, get out of here!" Megaman pushed Lan back roughly just in time to reach out and capture Zero's leg as he tried to stomp down on him. Then he pulled him sharply, enough to send him tumbling to the ground. 'Zero!' With a grimace at his actions, Megaman climbed on top of him, pinning him in place with his weight as he began pounding into him with furious punches, as hard as he could.

! - ! - !

There wasn't much choice for Blues this time in his direction, it was clear there would be no searching involved this time. Blues looked around with an anxious dread at the red sky that seemed to be forever descending towards him and the thick red fog surrounding both sides of his path as well as behind him. There was only one way to go, most other routes were infected by the creeping red fog or inaccessible due to the power outage. He looked down at his newly upgraded sword, and was unpleasantly surprised to find that there was no blade. 'What the hell…' He held up the hilt and looked over it suspiciously, the weight of it felt strange, it felt as though there was an object attached to the hilt that was far longer and heavier. And that's when he realized that there actually was a blade, he simply couldn't see it. 'Why in the hell would you make a sword that's-'

A burst of static appeared in front of him and much to his surprise a ghost a darted out of small disruption right towards him. Blues saw that haunting look and flinched. "!!" Immediately he lifted the sword and slashed nearly blindly, watching with awe as the unseen blade sword tore through the ghost and it disappeared… Blues held up the sword curiously again, staring at the hilt. "It works at lest…" Not seeing the blade wasn't an insurmountable difficulty, the blade was about as long as his last, he had enough experience to get an equitable sense of it.

He stood there longer then he knew he should have, staring at his sword, listening to the silence around him. This would be so much easier if he never met him, that damned idiot, doomed from the moment he took his first breath. 'He could have saved himself.', that's all he kept thinking about over the past few hours, 'Zero could have saved himself! This is his own fault!' So he had no barring over what he was about to do. Blues' fist clinched tightly around the hilt of his sword and his jaw tightened, he felt a furious energy filling him, it made it hard to be still. His body trembled. 'He did this to himself, this was all his fault, to hell with him'. "Damnit!" He was so infuriated that he couldn't stand still any longer, he bolted forward down the path with his eyes fixed strait ahead. It kept repeating in his head, over and over, it was his fault, it was his fault, it was his damn fault!

He was so blind with his anger that he didn't focus on his surroundings as well as he should have, a geyser of white energy erupted from underneath him, stripping the sword from his hands and swallowing him. The sensation of being electrocuted scattered his senses, and the immense friction made him feel as though his body was on fire. He didn't even realize he'd been forced upward and hurtling towards the ground until he forced his eyes open and saw it coming right at him. "!!" He felt nothing at first when he landed, then the impact jarred through his entire body like a hard blow with an additional pain. "Son of a…" He grumbled to himself as he hurriedly pushed himself off the ground, his hand clinching his chest. He ran to where his sword had fallen, spotting Zero still knelling on the ground with his fist against the dense surface.

He felt as though he wasn't ready for this, this was all too sudden, he felt as though he were still frozen in shock and it all had yet to sink in. This didn't feel right, though he didn't suppose it would have, he wanted to say something to Zero but he wouldn't respond, he probably wouldn't have even heard it. He wanted to speak to him but it would have felt even more wrong knowing what he'd come here to do. So this was it? "…" Blues ran towards Zero with all of his furry, his sword raised above his head. Zero climbed off the ground just as Blues' dawned on him, he lifted his sword above his head just as Blues attacked and blocked. Zero awkwardly lifted his foot and sent a sharp kick to Blue's leg, making him stumble backwards to catch himself.

Giving Zero enough time to jump up and send a hard slash at Blues' chest all of his strength behind it. Blues, being quicker and more agile, lifted the unseen blade defensively, intercepting Zero's sword before it could strike him. But he couldn't handle the amount of strength Zero put behind it, the sword was knocked to the side, nearly peeled out of his hands. For that, critical second Blues was wide open. Zero, with those emotionless eyes, whipped the sword back and lashed him across the chest. "Uhn!" Blues stumbled backwards out of the way, narrowly avoiding a second strike.

It was astounding to him how physically strong Zero was, it was only now that he realized how much Zero must have held back during those times they had fought. He had to admit, it hurt a lot more when Zero was using a sword.

Zero quickly dropped down to his knees and struck the ground and a geyser erupted right in front of him, followed quickly by another right behind it, and another behind that one, until a wall was rushing at Blues with like a tidal wave. "!!" Blues narrowly slipped to the side, passing so narrowly by an eruption of the silver energy that he could feel the heat radiating onto his body, and charged at Zero. Zero quickly stood up, but he didn't have time to lift his sword before Blues was in striking range. With a loud grunt he pulled the unseen blade to his side and slashed it across Zero's chest. It easily passed through the armor as if it wasn't there, a thin line etched across Zero's chest and blue blood began to fill it, streaming down across the armor.

Blues froze at this, watching Zero stagger away with more haste then previous times he'd been struck, the oddly colored blue liquid spilling on to his red armor. Then he stared down at his sword in a horrified amazement, the tip of it was painted in the blood that seemed to simply hang in mid air of his own volition. He felt his throat tightening and his heart began to pound, "…" He furiously wiped his eyes and stood ready again.

! - ! - !

Megaman pounded into Zero as hard as he could, reaching down and grabbing his head in an attempt to hold on while Zero struggled underneath him. It wasn't long before Zero slipped his knee between them and kicked Megaman off, Megaman fell on to his back and pushed himself against the wall, grabbing on to anything he could to pull himself up. But he didn't get the chance, Zero rose before he did and was upon him before he could stand. Zero lifted his foot and pounded into Megaman's chest with a sharp kick, extracting a sharp cry of pain from him. "Unnhh!!" Megaman felt as though insides had just ripped out of his back and spilled out against the wall, the phantom pain racked his body, he wasn't even sure he was all still there. He didn't get the chance to find out before Zero stomped down on him with another sharp kick to his face, this time creating an imprint on the concrete wall behind him. For a moment his vision went black and the entire world was gone from him, he felt nothing but the familiar phantom pain. That began to drift away soon enough, everything was drifting away, even he himself was… like…sleep.

There was a deep, low rumbling that pulled him out of it this time.

Then reality came back to him like a collision with a brick wall, sudden and hard, He heard his voice crying out in pain and felt the ache in his head. In the darkness he saw Zero's foot coming at him and he flinched, falling to the side and rolling out of the way. That's when he realized the rumbling he'd heard wasn't as low as it had first sounded, it was frighteningly loud, the ceiling shuttered with sharp tremors, the concrete walls trembled with strong vibrations. "Wha…What's happening?!" Megaman looked around with alarm, and was nearly struck by Zero's fist for his distraction. "!!" Zero took another step forward and threw another hard punch towards Megaman's head. Megaman leaned back and grabbed his fist, sharply tugging him forward before he had a chance to break free and latched a hold of him. "Zero!" He lifted Zero off of the ground with ease and flung him unto a wall, it seemed just as Zero's back struck the hard surface Megaman was there with a firm grip on his neck a torrent of strong punches to his face. They weren't friends anymore, but two strangers fighting brutally. There were moments when Megaman's mind was so captivated in the fight and simply trying to survive that he forgot who he was fighting any why, he simply fought. Other times he distanced himself from all thought and purposely lost himself in the fight, detached.

"!"

Lan, who hadn't managed to get to far, seemingly went into overdrive when the tremors began. "Oh man." His stomach sank and a wave of fear bubbled up in his chest. His mind raced as the emergency lights flicked and went dark for a moment, leaving him blind for a terror filled second. 'I gotta find Enzan!' He thought frantically, feeling a horrid fear for Enzan's safety, and a fear for himself, he didn't want to be alone. Lan took in deep swallows of air but it didn't seem to be enough, as if something was blocking his lungs from expanding completely. He clinched his chest and staggered forward, watching the shadowy forms of dormant florescent lights hanging from the ceiling rattle.

He heard something snap and then saw the same shadowy form plummeting swing towards him, "!!" Lan entire body tensed and shuttered in split second and he made a staggering step to the side, feeling a rush of air wash over him as he fell against the wall and the swinging florescent light rushed passed him. One side of the wires holding it in place had snapped. "Oh crap!" He half shouted, his mind still reeling. His heart skipped a beat when the emergency lights gave out, leaving him in darkness. "W-what's g-going o-o-on?!"

! - ! - !

Enzan nearly lost his balance when he felt the floors tremble beneath him. "!!" He reached out for whatever he could to catch himself and unwittingly grabbed Tadashi's arm, which seemed to knowingly stiffen to support him. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is?!" He had to shout over the roar of the large building and it's contents shaking as though an earthquake had hit. His voice was choking and trembling with fear, despite the fact that his mind was set with an iron reserve, his body was wrought with a growing terror. He couldn't seem to calm himself, no matter how much he focused, or stopped and breathed, he felt terrified.

Tadashi held his arm steady until Enzan found his balance, pausing to push his glasses back into place. Almost instinctively he lifted his head from the signal jamming and leaned back just enough to see past the server room door to the hall window. What he saw was darkness, or something the appeared a lot like the embodiment of it. A wall of wind, black with dirt and debris pelted the window, it sounded as a spray of rocks was contentiously being wiped into the glass. "It is." Tadashi called back. He grew anxious and dreadful, startled at times, but he didn't physically feel the same fear Enzan had, "We have to move away from-"

It seemed just as Tadashi began to speak his voice was cut off by a loud crash, the window shattered into a fragmented rain of glass and it's tempered plastic frame. It was felt before either of them fully processed the sound, a torrent of jagged glass plowed into them, striking Enzan first. "Unn!" He clenches his eyes shut and ducked his head, covering his face with his arm, it felt as though thousands of needles stabbing into his front and side. After each stab he felt a warmth in the spot and he could feel his pulse like something pushing from underneath his skin a rhythm, it was blood.

"Enzan!"

Enzan heard Tadashi's voice and looked over his shoulder, he flinched and his body tensed bracingly with fright when he saw the man diving off of the ground towards him. His mind raced, processing his senses in double time making the world seem to travel at a slower speed. He followed Tadashi's wide eyes and looked forward towards the window, and to what horror his mind could comprehend that split second, he saw a steel beam, carried on the winds, smash through the wall and careen towards him with an exploded cloud of concrete, drywall, ceiling tile, wire, and a florescent light torn from their places. "!!"

He couldn't even draw up the thought to move before Tadashi dived on to him, dragging him roughly to the ground and covering him. Tadashi clinched his eyes shut as he felt to steel beam pass narrowly over his body with gust of air, dragging a sheet of dust and destruction in it's wake and sending most of it plummeting into his body. "!!" Tadashi bit down on his lip and grunted in pain when a chunk of concrete fell on to his head and other unidentifiable things fell on to his back.

! - ! - !

The steel beam, tangled in wires torn from the ceiling and walls, easily tore through the doors of the sixth floor elevator entrance and crashed into the wall of the shaft with an explosive clatter that could be heard several floors both ways. Gravity then took over, and the large steel beam plundered strait down like a bullet into the stalled (and luckily now empty) elevator. It impaled the steel box nearly completely through, the unfortunately placed strike tore it from it's cables and sent it sprawling downward, the protruding steel beam tearing a line through the wall every inch of the way down.

It came to an explosive stop on the basement floor, the protruding steel beam tore through a piece of the ceiling and halfway down the elevator doors. It had also managed to capture a few wires in the ceiling, pulling them sharply and jarring most of the ceiling lose in the process. "!!" The deafening sound in the dark nearly made Lan's heart stop, the quake from the crash swept him off of feet and sent him hurdling towards the ground. "Uhf!" Then the ceiling tiles came plummeting down with thick, severed, and worse of all, live wires flowing with power fresh from the back up generators. Lan let out a loud outcry of fright when the drywall and tile fell on to him, his mind going off with thoughts of being crushed, being pinned down, trapped, suffocating, dieing. He frantically fought through the pain and struggled to push it off of him, which was when he realized for all of the pain it caused it wasn't that heavy. "What's going on!" He staggered on to his feet, light headed and dizzy he fell against the wall, still rumbling with vibration.

He heard the buzz and saw the sparks of swinging wires coursing with electrify, some of them igniting small flames. He heard the scorching sizzle, he saw the red glow flicking from behind the half torn off elevator doors, he smelled the burnt metal and tasted hot soot and ash from the black smoke starting to billow out before he noticed it hanging in the air. He'd never felt a fear this strong in his life, the entire time he'd thought the building was collapsing over his head, it wasn't until half of a minute passed that he determined that wasn't the case.

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The staggering and now bleeding Zero planted a foot back and stopped his body from receding any father. Acting before Blues could regain his focus , Zero stumped his foot down on the ground and a devastating wave of silver energy erupted from the ground defensively around him. The geyser came narrowly close to Blues, managing to rip the sword out of Blues' hands and sent it flying into the air, nearly throwing Blues on to his back. "Damnit!" he grunted to himself forcing himself to pay better attention. He looked up, trying to locate his sword, and Zero again took advantage of the distraction, darting through of the veil of the silver energy and throwing a hard punch across Blue's jaw.

Blues staggered backwards and Zero sent a sharp kick to his chest, knocking him to the ground. Blues shook his head and pried his eyes open, biting back a cry of pain when Zero stomped down on his chest with all of his superior physical strength, planted his foot in place and pined him there. "Bastard." Blues coughed, opening his mouth wide and gasping from the air forced out of his chest. He heard the sword plunge into the ground blade first somewhere to his left and as if awaking from a dormant sleep he sprung into action. Before Zero could move again he grabbed Zero's leg and rolled to the side sharply, despite Zero's resistance he was easily able to drag Zero down. The virus fell face down on the ground and an instant later Blues was on Zero's back pinning him down. Blues peeled off Zero's helmet, tossing it aside, and began pounding into the back of his head with all of his strength behind each blow.

With each strike Zero's head was hammered down and smashed in to the ground with equal force, blue blood splattered from his forehead disorientingly until a pool had formed and it was now streaming down his face. Zero threw his elbow back and missed Blues, then he quickly reached out for him and caught his head in his grasp. With his strength he pulled Blue's down over his shoulder and slammed his head into the ground. "!!" Blues' instincts began screaming at him with the memory of past fights with Zero blazing through his head, he struggled his way free and rolled away as Zero pounded his fist against the ground and a geyser of silver energy erupted from around his body. Blues bit down hard on his lip when he felt the sensation burn across his arm, he hadn't moved fast enough, and hadn't realized it until his arm was pulled upward and felt as if it would be torn off of his body. "Fuck!" He managed to roll free, clinching his arm tightly as he staggered on to his feet and ran towards his sword.

'Goddamnit, how'd he do that…' Blues grunted in the throbbing pain that radiated from his left arm, he tried to move it but there was no response, it simply hung dead, it's pain intensifying from the movements that aggravated it. It was dislocated, and for a moment he feared that pushing it back into place would cause the burning pain to grow stronger. Blues grabbed the sword with the invisible blade, the hilt half erected in the ground seemingly elevated on it's own, and turned towards Zero, he instead was faced with a line of geysers bursting from where Zero knelt to directly in front of him, blue blood streaming down his face from the base of the blond hair. "!" The energy peeled him from the ground like an immense blow, knocking him into the air, and with perfect timing another erupted behind it to catch him and attack again. But Blues caught himself this time, with a firm grip on the sword he leaned backwards and flipped almost fully. With a show of his agility he, hanging upside down, he intercepted the geyser just as he was about to plow into it. He slashed into it with his sword with his good arm and immediately found resistance that stalled him in mid air, enough resistance to push off of it and land on his feet.

Hissing with pain from his landing, he pivoted towards Zero just in time to be met with a burst of hot, red air that pushed him back. '?' He hesitated for a moment when he saw a vent of hot air erupting from underneath Zero's feet and blowing high into the air with a wavering distortion while the infectious red fog surrounding them was sucked towards him. He was using the infected data. "No goddamn way!" Blues shouted in anger and frustration, his eyes began to blur and water without the aid of the air rushing at him. He wasn't sure why he grew so anger at that moment, maybe it was the pain…

With his eyes narrowed and his left arm hanging lifelessly at his side, Blues sprinted with all of his superior speed strait at Zero. With sudden burst, red lighting shot out from the hazy vent of air at Blues in the blink of an eye, Blues' heart skipped more the one beat as his body reacted with quick reflexes, he turned to the left and pushed off one foot, flinching when he felt the burning heat of the red lighting graze narrowly past his side. The few feet separating them seemed endless to Blues, a few hair like strands of energy diverged from the main ray, somehow attracted to Blue's armor like a magnet, and began slowly burning him where they touched. He tried to ignore it as more and more of the hair like strands diverged to his armor until a web of them grew connected to him and he screamed in agony. His steps staggered and stumbled but never lost speed, with his mind reeling from the pain he leapt upward, dawning on Zero, hoping to escape the pain. "Damnit Zero!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as his body plunged through wall of sneering air surrounding Zero and into the red fog being sucked into his body. The pain seemed to cause time itself to slow down for him as he fell into the fog and he felt this immense piercing pain through out the inside of his body. He nearly blacked out, it was hazy as he drew the sword back, and thrust it right at Zero, carried by the momentum of his fall. It didn't seem real as he watched an invisible laceration form and tear through Zero's chest, where his heart would be had this not been a dream, and hallow a hole right through his body with a splatter of blue blood.

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The sudden darkness and crushingly loud sounds disoriented Megaman, his mind raced with panicked thoughts, blazing a million miles a second as he felt the entire structure shake around him. The earthquake like tremors took the foundation out of his balance an he felt himself fall off Zero whom he had pinned down, and when he fell on to his back he was met with a wall of smoke and ash filled air. Had he needed to breath he might have began to choke. It sounded as if a train was barreling past his head, he didn't even notice the pulling sound, then the snapping sound of hard wires and pipes in the ceiling, until the tile, steel piping, and concrete rained painfully down on him . "!!" He thought the entire building was collapsing on to him.

A gas line severed, sending a breeze of natural gas billowing down, incidentally, right on to a sparking live wire. An automatic shut off was started with the pressure inside the pipe had dropped, indicating a break, but by then a fireball of gas had rained down on the debris, setting it a blaze.

"What…in the world…" Megaman shook a cracked chunk of drywall off his face and pried his eyes open. His blurry vision was met with a red haze dangerously close to him, he could feel the heat near his cheek, he could smell the gas and burning kindling that kept it going, he could taste the ash from the black smoke it created. His eyes widened. 'F-Fire?!' With the word echoing through his head he scrambled to get to his feet, only to find all the things that fell on him weighted more together then he could handle. He frantically began tearing it off his body piece by piece, but it wasn't fast enough. A shadow covered him, before he could even look up he felt Zero's hands reach down, grasp his neck and effortlessly pull him out of the shallow grave.

A wave of overwhelming phantom pain washed over his body and his mind seemed to crumble and scatter into a million pieces, then came the pull like dust into vacuum. "N-No!" Megaman's eyes trembled as he looked fearfully into Zero's empty ones, staring past him it seemed. He could barely find the strength to struggle. He grabbed on to Zero's wrist and tried to kick him off but he couldn't find the will to do that, the world began to recede and he felt the overtaking sense that he was apart of something larger, that the pain would stop of he simply was connected again, just… sleep and…

From the corner of his fading vision, he spotted a live wire swinging around in the fire beside him. 'That…That's…' With one last push, he drew what will he could to resist and Megaman reached out for it and grabbed on to it. He barely had the strength to swing the frayed end into Zero's back, and for his resilience he was rewarded with a jolt of electricity burning agonizingly though his body, transferred from Zero. Zero silently, and quickly, released Megaman and stumbled to the side away from it, staggering and falling to the ground weakly.

"…ow…" Megaman clinched his head, _feeling_ a sharp ringing resign through his head and his ears like sharp vibrations, for a few, frightening seconds he couldn't hear. 'God that hurts…' He thought to himself as he pushed himself off the wall and staggered forward a few dazed steps, before he was surprised by a hard kick to his side by a seemingly now unphased Zero. "Uufff!" Megaman felt himself plow through the fallen wreckage and the flames that consumed them, keenly aware of every object he pushed through and the heat for every second until he came to a stop halfway through. A trail of pushed aside or flattened wreckage created a tread through the pile. He was beyond the flames, but he'd fallen close enough to feel the heat baking his skin.

"Damnit…" By now Megaman couldn't tell where the pain was coming from on his body, all he knew was everything hurt, he was sure some things were broken by now. With half lidded eyes he could seem Zero coming at him, with that hauntingly blank look on his face and that same intimidating pace. And for the first time, Megaman though that he could actually die here…It wouldn't be so bad, it was nothing he couldn't handle, he felt as though he could die for what he was doing now. This person was a part of him, he was his friend, and they were fighting like two strangers, to enemies trying to kill each other. But he was the only one that was intentional. He hated himself even more as he reached out to grab something to pick himself up with and his hand struck a jagged pole. The guilt was crushing as pulled it out of the pile and found half of it doused with the mist of the gas and burning. He clinched his eyes shut and screamed as the oppressing depression crushed his soul while he thrust it outward at the unsuspecting Zero with all of his strength and drove it right into his stomach.

A horrid regret struck him when Zero grabbed a hold of it, halfway in and tried to stop it, but the flames kept him at bay as he kept pushing it forward. His eyes blurred and burned with tears as he felt the resistance while he shoved farter and father until he could go no farther. A tremendous regret burned him as he screamed at the top of his lungs in a loud sob while he kicked the end of the pole, driving it completely into Zero. A thousand apologies emanated off his disturbed face as he watched Zero fall backwards towards the swinging live wire, just as he had calculated.

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The second part of the ending is next, the Epilogue. Thanks for reading –SDI


	29. Chapter 29: Epilouge

Chapter 28: Epilogue

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_Wake me up when September ends_ by _Greenday_

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"…Unnn…" Lan clinched his hand over his mouth and weakly climbed to his knees, repelling himself from the hard ground that had seemed to leap up at him and smash into his face. He felt blood running from his nose and the slightly gritty feel of smoke being sucked down his throat and billowing into his weak lungs. His chest felt as though it was on fire, he was continuously out of breath now, not after physically straining himself like before, but all of the time, and he couldn't seem to recapture it. His other hand made it's way to his chest and he staggered over the wreckage and stumbled through the smoke with slow, sloppy steps. In his confused mind he vaguely aware that he was choking.

Where was he going?

Lan stopped, he swayed on his feet, taking in deep swallows of the black air. He didn't know which way he was going, he tried to pry his eyes open but they burned and stung from the smoke and heat, forcing them shut. "Unn." He moaned as he began walking again, he moved erratically, nearly falling with every step and stumbling from side to side. The world was swaying like a rocky sea, he was dizzy, lightheaded, confused . 'Where…where am I…?" Was this still the basement? Was he still alive? He felt as he was floating, like his mind was detached while his body stumbled through the dark with pain and fatigue.

_Summer has come and passed_

_The innocent can never last_

Was he even breathing anymore?

He gasped and gasped but no air would come, he wasn't breathing. He didn't feel the pain in his chest anymore, only the world spinning behind his clinched eye lids. He didn't feel himself moving anymore, he barely felt the steel pipe against the side of his face, or the blood now oozing out of the gaping scar across the side of his temple from the jagged concrete he'd nearly impaled himself on. He didn't feel anything anymore, he wasn't even awake.

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Terror, absolute terror. Enzan's mind raced with fear, all encompassing fear. He couldn't pick out one comprehendible thought, only hard feelings he felt with his entire body. He felt the floor he was pinned against rumbling against him, pushing the shards of glass among other things, farther and farther into his body. The sound was deafening, he could feel the wind from the hole in the wall shifting violently from side to side, from left to right, pulling him towards the hole and then pushing him away. He would have screamed had he been able to force the sound out, felt his heart was a balloon that he feared would burst after each pounding beat. He feared his death more then he feared actually dieing, he didn't want to die like this!

"Hold on!"

He heard Tadashi's strained voice yell into his ear over the winds, then he felt Tadashi's arm wrap around his waist and the man sharply pull him backwards, wreckage and debris falling off where it had piled on to his body in a loud clatter. The atmosphere was loud and panicked, cluttered with sharp noises that made Enzan defensive. Tadashi pulled him back into the server room where they didn't feel the winds so much. Tadashi sat Enzan against the wall and he fell almost lifelessly against the wall beside him. "N-no!" Enzan's entire body trembled violently, the pain in his legs were so intense he couldn't move them if he tried, it easily over shadowed the pain from the glass shards through out the rest of his body.

"Enzan, calm down." Tadashi said, he didn't scream it over the winds like before, Enzan could barely hear him over the sound of blood rushing to his ears.

His words did no good. The room spun around him, jarring at a blurring pace, he was so dizzy he was almost nauseous. The frightening noise and forceful quaking made it hard to think strait, the walls seemed to be closing in on him and all of the air was being drained out of room. He felt as though he were having a heart attack, this couldn't be just a simple anxiety attack, he was _dieing_. "Damnit!" He clinched his eyes shut and his hands balled into tight fist.

"We're going to be alright." Tadashi's voice was strained, but even now he felt an overwhelming calmness, no fear came.

"I'm dead, damnit, I'm dead!" Enzan kept repeating over and over, until he became so choked up he couldn't breathe. He had no doubt Tadashi would live through this, but he… "!!" He felt salty tears running down his cheek, mixing with blood.

_Wake me up when September ends_

_Like my fathers come to pass_

Tadashi reached over and wrapped his arms around Enzan, pulling him into a tight embrace. Enzan burred his head into Tadashi's chest, it was soaked with water and blood but he didn't care. The violent shaking made it impossible for Tadashi to be firm and still and his grip was lose but he still felt a stability there. Everything was chaos, the world, his world was out of control, Enzan clung to this stability. "It'll be fine."

The vague feelings of sorrow and guilt now came back so hard and heavy he couldn't utter a word for a few breathless, terror filled seconds. He flinched when he heard things began to drag down the hall under the wind's power, scratching the floors and pound against the walls. "I can't take this!" It became clear to him that his terror wasn't the only reason he was crying. All the shame and depression and guilt and fear all culminated into one overwhelming anxiety attack, he couldn't breathe. "He's gonna die, damnit! They have to kill him! I can't even—" Enzan's voice was choked off by a silent sob.

"I know…"Tadashi closed his eyes and his hands gently rubbed Enzan's back.

" I'm gonna-"

"Don't talk." Tadashi said, interrupting his gasping, air starved words. "Just breathe…just focus on breathing."

Enzan flinched at the loud bang of some object pounding against the wall amidst the howl of powerful winds. He tried to be still but his body wouldn't stop shaking, he'd lost it, he'd lost control of everything he pushed back and ignored, he'd lost control of deeply rooted feelings he didn't even realize he had until they washed over him with a sudden anger amidst the terror and despair. His breathes trembled as they passed his lips, he focused on the pitiful sound as best he could, but his voice cracked with another sob and he finally threw his arms around Tadashi and held on to him as tightly as he could.

And that's when he felt the blood, the warm liquid was thicker the anywhere else, he could feel it running over his fingers from some wound he couldn't see. "?!" Enzan felt Tadashi wince and he immediately lifted his head. Seemingly knowing his new fears before he could even comprehend them. Tadashi rested his hand on Enzan's head and smiled weakly down at him. "Don't worry, just breathe."

And he tried to.

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Blues tumbled ungracefully out of the air like a dead fly choked by the poison of red fog hanging around him. He fell into Zero, and they both pounded into the ground with an audible thump. Zero's fall kicked up a wave of air that swept back the red fog a few feet, and Blues landed weakly on top of him, for the moment he was safe. "Unn…" Blues groaned in pain, the dull ache from his dislocated arm paled in comparison to the ache that saturated the rest of his body from the red fog he'd passed through, he vaguely thought just how right he had been to keep away from it.

Blues pried his eyes open, feeling the thick wetness covering his right hand that had formally wielded his sword. He could feel the warmth of Zero's body against his own, he could feel his heavy moist breaths against his shoulder and he didn't want to move, he would have been perfectly content to stay like this forever. Where had all of his anger gone? It was supposed to make him immune to these feelings? The furry he once created for Zero was now only filled with depression and a crushing sense of imminent loneliness. When Zero didn't move immediately, he knew… He couldn't look, he didn't want to see what he'd just done, and he was conflicted between wanting to hold on to him, or recoiling the horror of feeling the blood and pain.

_Seven years has gone so fast_

_Wake me up when September ends_

"Damn…"

Blues flinched when he heard Zero's voice and had to look at him now. "Zero…"

Zero looked up at him with half-lidded eyes and a weak gaze, the sword with an unseen blade was now visible with a coat of blue blood, rising halfway out of Zero's chest where his heart was. How he was alive this long was beyond Blues. "You're an angry guy when you fight, you know that?" Zero's voice was two notches above a wispier, his breathing was deep and steady. "Now why would a nice guy like you be so mad?"

"I'm not a nice guy." Blues' eyes shifted away, but laying beside him he could see Zero watching him from the corner of his eye.

"Sure you are, you were always nice to me."

Hearing him speak like this was like a jolt to his heart, before he probably would have screamed at him for speaking in this tense, as though he were already gone. "No I wasn't." He admitted quietly.

"Sure you were." Zero said with a vague smile, he lifted his head slightly and looked down at the sword in his chest. "And you hit pretty hard too."

A furry suddenly erupted in Blues, he glared at Zero, yelling. The familiar feelings of anger returned, anger at the world, at fate, at everything.. "Stop talking like that! Stop it damnit! I just…" His voice was cloaked off when his throat tightened and a sob shuttered through his body like a spasm he couldn't control. "What the hell are you smiling about?" He grunted coldly, his eyes blurring with more tears.

Zero slowly lifted his left arm, dropping his sword with a low, echoing clatter. Then he wrapped it around Blue's shoulders, holding on to him with as much strength as he could gather. "I know you probably hate me for making you do this…but thanks, really."

Blues began to tremble slightly when he felt the warmth slowly fading from Zero, "You were always a bastard. What the hell are you thanking me for. I…I just…"

Zero's hand found it's way to the back of Blues', pulling the two of them together until their foreheads met and Blues' shaking eyes locked reluctantly with Zero's calm, weak ones. " I'm dying…aren't you supposed to be nice to me?" He half smiled.

Blues glared at him, his quivering eyes began to tremble more. "…"

"Because… I needed you too…I'm sorry I put you through this…" Zero tried to tighten his arm around Blues' shoulder but his weak muscles wouldn't respond, his strength was draining out of him right along with his life. The heat was leaving him right along with the blood seeping from the wound. "If I had-"

"Don't say that, you better not be saying what I think your going to say." Blues said curtly.

_Here comes the rain again_

_Falling from the stars_

"Sorry." Zero apologized softly. "I guess even in the end I couldn't get it right. I must be the-"

"I told you before, your not some screw up that makes everybody miserable." Blues spoke softly, half whispering. He swallowed, trying to steady his voice. "Even knowing this was how it was gonna end, I would have done it all over again…just to...be with you."

"You are you a nice guy." He said in that child like voice and that child like smile. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

"I wish I knew why I stood you all the times." Blues grunted, he couldn't seem to muster up his usual disregarding voice.

Zero's smile shifted from the childish one to a deeper one. "I love you."

Blues' throat tightened painfully and he felt himself choking up, he tried to speak but he couldn't talk.

Zero's eyes slowly drifted close and he found himself drifting forward through some kind of gravity he couldn't describe. "You don't have to say it…" His voice grew softer and softer, until Blues' could barely hear him over his own breathing. "I know…"

Blues closed his eyes when he felt Zero's lips press against his own and instinctively opened his mouth. Then he wrapped his arms around Zero and held him tightly, ignoring the blood of his deed as he kissed him back. Their tongues mingled slowly and weakly, Blues could feel the last of the heat disappearing from Zero's body, leaving a dead cold to settle over his body like the chill of rain. Zero's tongue became still and his head tilted to the side lifelessly.

"No…" Blues stared at him, his body trembling with more violence then ever. "Zero…" Blues let his head fall on to Zero's chest, feeling so empty, so weak, so defeated that he no longer tried to hold back the cries that were forcing their way from his clinched mouth.

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For a brief second he saw and felt everything clearly. Zero could see the anguish on Megaman's face, he could taste the smoke in the air, he could smell the heat and ash from the flames, he could feel the object through his stomach, and himself falling backwards. That clarity didn't last more then a second before he fell backwards into a hanging wire, the frayed end made contact with his back and a burning jolt of electricity tore through his body and made his vision nothing but static. Then all feeling was lost, as though he was disconnected from every part of his body, he blacked out.

He had no sense of time when he awakened, the static was clear from his vision and he was staring up at the ceiling. The pole that had once impaled him was laying to his side. He could have been out for 2 days or two seconds for all he knew.

_Drenched in my pain again_

_Becoming who we are_

Megaman sat there completely frozen, he could do nothing more the stare at Zero, first in questioning, then in disbelief, then in horror. 'Oh my god…I just…' Megaman slowly pushed himself up, there was a slight pain in his movement, every tense that came with simply anticipating the use of any of his muscles created a throbbing ache, and when he stood and walked they all became a wave of agony that made him tremble and struggle to keep from crying out. He didn't care about the pain, he was barely aware if he was screaming or not, Zero's still body was all he could focus on. He felt like he was in shock, the weight of it all hadn't fallen on his shoulders yet, even the thought of it, the sight, the very memory of it was like a distant voice he didn't hear clearly.

Though the flickering red glow he found himself staring into Zero, and the usually haunting eyes were staring strait back at him. It made him flinch and filled him with a sudden and unexplained fear. "Z…Z…" Megaman stumbled over his words with his throat trembling. He kept repeating 'Did he feel that? Did he feel all of that?' in his head over and over. The thought of him being mentally there, feeling every blow he landed like a knife in the back, every strike a betrayal.

"Megaman…" Zero looked up at him, squinting to make the blurry image sharper. "Your still here…"

Megaman felt his legs give out and he fell to his hands and knees beside Zero. "Zero…I…I." Then it came at him all at once, a deep anger, a furry even, and a depression that seemed to emanate from his heart. "I'm sorry!" He cried, clinching his hands into tight fist, tears rolling down his cheek.

Zero watched Megaman, studying the anguish on his face. "Don't…" He said in a soft voice, feeling the familiar sensation of life draining out of him as his systems shut down one by one. "This is the third time I've died. I'm not sad any more, I don't feel any more pain." He said, smiling faintly.

"It's not easy for me…" Megaman forced out in a trembling voice. His voice became softer and softer until it faded away. "You can't tell me not to be sad, you can't tell me not to cry. You're my friend. And I just did this to you…"

"You didn't kill me Megaman…I killed my self." Zero stared at the ceiling, a calm, a peace came about him. He wasn't sad, he had nothing in him but a sense of enlightenment, things that were always cloudy during his existence were now slowly being understood at the end of it. "I was dead from the moment I first gave up."

"…I'm…I'm supposed to say something to you…" Megaman said, his eyes were searching for an answer in Zero's that didn't seem to be there. "I know I'm supposed to say something to you but I just don't know what it is anymore." Megaman nearly laughed at himself, some kind of dark humor he didn't understand was found in patches of his crushing depression, usually when he was about to feel worse.

"I'll bet." Zero said, the smile returning to his face. "Don't worry about all that stuff. Really…I kinda glad you're the last thing I get to see, it's kinda fitting." His voice cracked and it was immediately softer and weaker. He felt his head slowly easing back to the ground with the strength to hold it in place fading. "Seeing as how you're the reason I was ever alive in the first place."

"God Zero I…" Megaman clinched his eyes shut and what little strength he had was gone in one breath. He let his head fall on to Zero's chest and sobbed uncontrollably. He was done, he was beaten, he had nothing left. He felt so broken by what he'd done that he wanted to simply close his eyes and sleep and not wake up. Simply existing in such a sorrow made it hard to breath, hard to think, hard to live with himself.

Zero's hand twitched and slowly lifted off the ground, raising with painstaking difficulty until it collapsed on to the back of Megaman's head. "Shh…." He whispered, his words becoming sluggish and slurring. "Don't worry, I know…we're like brothers, remember?" His faint smile returned again as he closed his eyes.

Megaman wrapped his arms around Zero, a strong part of him wishing that he could keep Zero here, if only he held tight enough he could give him some of his life and sustain him. He clinched his mouth shut and aloud no more cries to pass his lips, he simply lay there in silence, listening to Zero's slowing breaths . "Lan's going to miss you, you know."

"I know…tell…him I'm sorry for me…" Zero's words became even more sluggish.

"Anything else…"

_As my memory rests_

_But never forgets what I lost_

"Yeah… tell Tadashi…thanks, and…I'm sorry for snapping at him…And tell Enzan….to take care of Blues for me." His smile grew wider for only a brief second before his body went limp and his head started to tilt away. "Good…bye…Mega…"

Megaman waited with out moving, with out speaking, without allowing a single thought to enter his mind. He waited for Zero to finish, but the rest of the words never came. The story of his life maybe. He was here, then he was gone. "Goodbye Zero…"

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_…reports that the NWS has finished surveys and categorized the other day's storm as an F4 with winds up to 260 mph. There's an estimated 90 million in damages to the downtown area, the death toll is currently only at one, with hundreds injured. More on this is coming up in our next segment, for now let's focus on the current forecast and take a look outside with our West bank sky tower cam. Currently overcast skies, the temperature is 55 with a low chance of rain. It's looking better for the rest of the week, by late tomorrow all of these clouds will have moved out and we can expect highs in the low 60s. Even better for the weekend with clear skies and temperatures reaching into the low 70s…_

"Lan? Are you down there?" Enzan slowly climbed down that ladder, entering the room he'd found what seemed so long ago when wondering the catacomb like tunnels of the Hospital's basement. He was immediately struck by a sense of familiarity when he entered the room, a place only he and Lan knew about, it was special. He was never the sentimental type but this place was…well, vaguely sentimental.

Lan sat on the edge of bed in silence, he flinched visibly when he heard Enzan's voice. "Hey! Don't scare me like that."

Enzan held on to the wall as he made his way over and fell on to the bed, his legs ached from the trip down and he was half out of breath. "It's not my fault your easily scared."

"I don't scare easy." Lan shot back defensively.

Enzan smirked. "Sure, whatever you have to tell yourself."

Lan glanced at him then looked away, both of them remained in their silences, until Lan finally spoke up about what he'd spent a great deal of time thinking about. "Your really going?"

Enzan nodded expectantly. "Yes."

"But why, you don't even want to."

No, Enzan didn't. The last thing he wanted to do was see his father right now, and inevitably deal with the utter failure of his little pet project that he'd deemed simple enough to give to him. Or stand his father's commentary on his current condition and his parental care, which always seemed to be more out of obligation rather then concern to Enzan. It was awkward to really have to sit down and talk with his practically estranged Father, and there would be a lot of talking. He'd gone through this before to a lesser extent, first he'd be concerned with his condition, which was always strangely tense for the both of them. Then he'd be angry, the arguments were the only unakward conversations he had with the man. Then he'd be concerned again, which was insurmountably annoying to Enzan for some reason and would cause another argument. Then he'd have to let his father take care of him, and that always involved him keeping a closer eye on Enzan, which was even more annoying. It would be more tolerable to stay around Tadashi, who he still couldn't seem to make eye contact with after his uncanny display of emotion during the storm. He was embarrassed just thinking about it. "He's my father." Enzan simply shrugged.

"What about your legs?" Lan said, bringing up the now seemingly fixed limp in Enzan's walk

Enzan found Lan's concern for him cute when it would have been annoying from anyone else, Lan always had an idolizing quality when he spoke to him. It made Enzan want to protect him. "They gave me pain medication and I have to go to rehab…this is such a pain in the ass." He sighed. At lest he could still walk…

"At lest you can still walk." Lan said.

Enzan nearly laughed at the déjà vu. "I know, I know." He waved him of dismissativly instead. "What about you? How'd you make it down here by yourself?"

"My lungs haven't given out on me yet." Lan said proudly.

"How's your breathing?"

"A lot easier since the surgery, I still might need that transplant though."

"That's better then before I guess." Enzan said with a nod. "Rehab?"

"Yup."

_Wake me up when September ends_

_Summer has come and passed_

Another silence followed, Enzan looked over at Lan with curious eyes. "Why'd you take off like that? I was looking for you, I wanted to see you before I left."

Lan shrugged, staring down at his hands. "I don't know…I just didn't want to see you leave, it's easier if you don't have to say goodbye."

"Hn." Enzan nodded acceptingly. Then he slowly pushed himself on to his feet when he finally caught his breath. "I guess I won't say goodbye then."

Lan stood up also, watching Enzan intently. "What's gonna happen?"

"My father's taking over the project, he's probably gonna lock me in a room somewhere." Enzan said, in his usual disassociative voice. "Oh yeah, your dad's looking for you you know."

"I know." Lan nodded, "Are you…coming back?"

"I don't know." Enzan said…yeah, of course he would.

Lan sighed and lowered his head again, feeling his eyes burn and water. "Oh…" He quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve, hoping to draw as little attention to himself as possible. "Enzan…are we…"

Enzan smiled softly and turned around, it wasn't depressing to watch him cry, he also found this cute. "Come on Lan, I know we've been over for a while now." He said.

"Huh?"

"I hate to just leave you like this, but you need Megaman a hell of a lot more then you need me right now." Enzan studied Lan's perplexed face, burning the image in his memory with high regard. Then he leaned forward a placed a soft kiss on Lan's forehead. "Goodbye Lan." He knew he definitely had to come back as soon as he could.

Lan rubbed his forehead and glared at Enzan's back, the small kiss had made him feel childish, and realize just how much taller Enzan was then him. "I'm not a kid you know."

Enzan slowly began ascending the ladder, "Yes you are."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Damnit." Enzan grunted with frustration, he crawled over his empty and half made hospital bed, padding around the sheets with his hands. "This is getting ridiculous." Enzan grumbled. "Where the hell is my wallet!" Out of all of his problems, this has to the most frustrating thing, his faulty memory.

_The innocent can never last_

_Wake me up when September ends_

"You're a genus, you know that." The ever cynical Blues said. "How is it you always managed to lose something everywhere you go?"

Enzan glared, knowing Blues couldn't see him from this angle. "Your not helping!"

"Tch." Blues folded his arms and looked away. "Not my fault your senile.

"What are you looking for?"

Enzan looked back, flinching when he saw just who was behind him "Oh, Mr. Hikari." He wanted to kick himself for being so startled. He looked over the man nervously with his head down, in between stolen glances he saw cuts and scared skin over his face and the visible parts of his neck that were acquired protecting him, still healing. The small folds of gauze held on his cheeks and forehead by medical tape where stitches had been applied filled him with a strange guilt. The subtle and hardly seen budge around his torso from bandages covering his torn back made a weight appear on his chest and a nausea bubble in his stomach in an empathetic remorse. His slightly dark brown eyes where new glasses replaced the broken ones paralyzed him with embarrassment and shame. "What are you doing here?"

Tadashi smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know if you'd be here, I didn't even know you were leaving." Tadashi said. He walked slowly towards bed, looking around the clean room with a slight astonishment of how much dirtier it had been with Enzan as a resident. Enzan wasn't the world's most organized person, there had always been something laying around, stray papers, folders, books, binders, in it's own disarray.

"Yeah." Enzan turned around and sat on the side of the bed, his head tilted away, eyes shifting between Tadashi and any other thing in the room. He hadn't told Tadashi because he didn't want to see him, every time he did, every time he even thought about the man he thought about what happened during the tornado when he'd broken down like that. He thought of that and became ashamed at the unexpected and uncharacteristic mood swing, then he thought of Tadashi thinking of it and became embarrassed. The last thing he wanted to do is be in the same room with the man who he could barely make eye contact with, let alone maintain it. "I guess I forgot."

Tadashi eased himself down on the bed beside Enzan, keeping his back rigidly strait, any movement of muscles would cause a shooting pain to radiate sharply. "So, how are you doing?"

Enzan folded his arms and closed his eyes. "I'm not in a wheelchair yet." Enzan said stoically. Then he peeked one eye open and looked curiously at Tadashi. "…What about you?" He became guilty every time he was around Tadashi, another reason he hadn't wanted to see the man, knowing he'd gotten all of those injuries protecting him. Just the thought of the man so valiantly defending him brought back the overwhelming feelings of fear, the trembling in his body, the sensation of Tadashi's weight and warmth on top of him. Being that afraid and vulnerable…God it was embarrassing! "Shouldn't you be laying down or something?"

_Ring out the bells again_

_Like we did when spring began_

Tadashi waved his hand dismissativly. "I'm fine, besides, there's too much to do to be laying down right now."

"Workaholic."

"Your one to talk."

Enzan smirked for a moment, then quickly fading into the ambiguity of his embarrassment. This was too awkward and he wished he could have simply slipped out when Tadashi wasn't paying attention. This was too much for him, all he could think about was if Tadashi was thinking about what he was thinking about.

Tadashi leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, and cradled his head in his hands. "Blues?" He called out curiously and cautiously He wasn't quite sure how to approach him now.

"Yeah." The navi acknowledged him solemnly.

"You know-"

"That's not necessary." Blues abruptly cut him off. "I'm fine." Had this been anyone else but Tadashi he might have gotten annoyed at his sentiment and condolences. He didn't want them nor did he feel like he needed them, they should have saved them for Zero, not his murder. Though, he knew how close Tadashi was to Zero and vice versa, just seeing the man made him think of how many times he had to endure Zero's idolizing conversations about. Annoying… So there was a bit of a connection he felt with the man, so maybe… "…But…thanks anyway."

"Sure Blues…" Tadashi simply nodded and sat upright. "So Enzan, what are you gonna do next?"

"I don't know, I'm going to see my father." Enzan simply shrugged, not feeling the will or patience to explain it too the man.

"Well, in case I don't see you again for a while." Tadashi smiled in what Enzan could only describe as a rather fatherly way, something full of pride and affection. The man laid his hand on his shoulder and Enzan tensed slightly. "I just want to say I'm proud of you, your determined, your strong, your brave, your smart-"

"Yeah, brave." Enzan half mumbled sarcastically, he smirked slightly and stared at the ground. "I wasn't brave before." He wanted to kick himself for drawing attention to that moment, but something in him felt compelled to audibly dispel that notion of him. He felt as though Tadashi was exaggerating, there was no way he could feel that way when he himself didn't feel remotely that way about himself.

"Your kidding right?" Tadashi shook his head. "There was a tornado outside, and even in your condition you didn't run, that was brave."

"I wasn't brave." He said, he didn't think about it too hard, he simply spoke, he felt badly enough about himself to relinquish himself to the man so he simply wouldn't be built up. "I was terrified, I just stood there like an idiot. You were the brave one, you were calm like it was nothing, your always calm."

"So what? It happens sometimes, that doesn't mean your not brave. I've seen you nearly die in a fire, I've seen you go through a flooded, pitch black underground tunnel even though you could be attacked at any moment. In fact, you were…actually. What more proof do you need? I though you would have realized by now that being brave doesn't mean your not scared. I was terrified the whole time. I was scared you and Lan were going to die. "

"…" Enzan clinched his eyes shut, hating the fact that Tadashi was still watching him. Simply hearing Tadashi say he was concerned that he would die, that he was concerned enough to nearly bleed to death sitting there because he was too weak to move after guarding him. He shuttered at the thought, remembering the thick, warm feeling to Tadashi's blood on his hands, it was haunting, disturbing, and after while he'd just wanted it off. Then he felt his eyes burning again with the familiar itching of tears rising forth. Damnit! Why was he crying, he wasn't sad or anything, yet when he talked about the subject his body seemed to react on it's own. And in front of Tadashi too, why him? Why was it always him?. "It's funny."

"?"

_Wake me up when September ends_

_Here comes the rain again_

"You being so concerned for me and all." He laughed, sniffling softly and quickly wiping the tears from his eyes with embarrassment and tilting his head away, staring off to the side. "You were more there for me in a 2 months them my father my entire life, it's kinda funny." At lest to him it was. He felt a swelling in his chest expelling more tears, now he really did feel like crying. "Damn, I'm losing it… I guess what I'm trying to say is…thanks for being there for me all the time. It seems like every time I slip down lower your there. Your kinda…I don't know, like a father to me."

'Hn…' Tadashi knowingly wrapped his arms around Enzan's shoulders in an offer of comfort, he could feel the boy tense again and his body began to tremble softly. "Well…I want to be there for you." He said softly.

"I'm starting to hate you." Enzan said with a smile breaking through while he wrapped his eyes again. "Your always there when I'm weak like this, it's embarrassing."

"Nah, I don't think anything less of you." Tadashi shrugged. "This is just what happens when you hold everything in all the time, it just comes out sometimes and you don't know why. Your still a strong guy."

"I don't know where your getting all this from, I'm not strong, I'm weaker then I've ever been, I can barely walk." Enzan sniffled and lifted his head looking away and glaring at the wall.

"You seem pretty strong to me." Tadashi said absentmindly. "Some how I think your not the type of person I need to reassure of their own strength. If you really were weak you would have given up already."

That was pretty good, Enzan had to admit, that didn't sound clichéd at all, it sounded sincere actually. "…Well I just hope my real father sees it your way." His smile grew a little wider.

Tadashi slowly eased himself up of the bed and stood up, careful to disturb as few as the muscles as he could. Such as task was impossible to do with out pain. "I've never seen anyone work as hard as you. " He said with that same pride. There were a few things he wanted to say to Enzan, but he decided he'd made him uncomfortable enough for one visit, the boy still hadn't looked at him strait yet. "If you ever need anyone to vouch for you."

Before he made his way to the door something caught his eye. "…Um…Enzan, you ere looking for something right?"

Enzan lifted his head, the change of subject and mood made him feel embarrassed again, since he still felt a heavy oppressive cloud over him. And the fact that he had just opened up to Tadashi again replayed over and over in his head until it became a crowd of judging insults. He immediately regretted talking to Tadashi altogether. "Uh…Yeah."

"Your keys, they're sitting on the bathroom sink."

Enzan sighed. "Thank you." He really was getting senile.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Enzan was certain he was going to be late. He'd spent more time then he'd cared to keep track of laying curled up into a ball on the freshly made up bed, crying silently to himself. He wasn't even sure what he was crying about half the time. The swelling in his chest felt like this immense pressure that had rush to the top and he couldn't contain any longer. An overwhelming depression had kept him immobile. Over what he couldn't be sure, a wash of different things had struck him.

_Falling from the stars_

_Drenched in my pain again_

After long he climbed off the bed, stumbled to the bath room with blurry eyes, and splashed his face with water until he felt normal again, though the shame and embarrassment still lingered.

"…" Blues wanted to ask if Enzan was alright now, but he didn't speak, he closed his eyes and folded his arms silently.

Enzan knew what Blues wanted and he was thankful he didn't. "…" He didn't respond himself, but Blues understood his answer.

"Don't forget your wallet." Blues finally said, as Enzan was wiping his face and heading for the door.

"Oh…" Enzan back tracked a few steps to retrieve it, it was the reason he came back after all, and then left his room for what he hoped would be the final time.

The elevator was still out of order, seeing as they had just finish scraping the wreckage out of the basement, leaving Enzan to take the stairs. It wasn't an easy trip, making it down 7 flights of stairs would have normally been no problem for him but his legs began to ache horribly after the third one down, and by level four he was on the verge of collapsing.

"Enzan!"

"?!" Enzan flinched when he heard Megaman's sudden voice. "Megaman…?" When Enzan heard the former Navi he eased himself down on to the stairs, holding the railing tightly. He may have managed a few more steps, but he couldn't have stood still and let all of his weight rested on his legs, he knew he would have collapsed.

Megaman ascended the stairs from below, pausing to look over Enzan carefully before sitting down beside him. "Are you alright?"

"You know…" Enzan leaned forward and rested his head into his lap, "I'm getting really sick of people asking me that."

"Oh, sorry then." Megaman apologized, then looked away.

Enzan was silent, focusing only on catching his breath. When he felt the ache for air had diminished enough to speak again he lifted his head and leaned back against the stairs. "What are you doing down here?"

"Nothing really, I went outside for a while, it takes a long time to get back in since they doing construction and all." Megaman said. His voice was distant and his eyes were tired.

_Becoming who we are_

_As my memory rests_

Enzan wouldn't blame Megaman if he wanted to do nothing more then sleep for a while, it must have been tiring dealing with Zero. And with all the repairs being done on him by Tadashi (who seemed to have liked nothing better to completely involve himself in some task and lose himself in it as he so often did) he didn't get much sleep. Not that physical fatigue was the reason he was so mentally distant from everything, no, he had plenty of things placed between himself and the outside world. "Megaman?"

"Hm?" Megaman glanced over at him.

Enzan looked up at him timidly, then looked beyond the railing and down the stairs. "…You seem…tired." Enzan wanted to kick himself for that. What he so awkwardly tried to convey was his concern for Megaman. But these things weren't ever easy for him, he never was able to express his feelings except in anger or annoyance, he never learned how to articulate anything he felt and show it to anyone when he needed to. He'd become keenly aware of his flaws over the last few weeks.

"Yeah, A little." Megaman said absentmindly.

He didn't understand, Enzan felt foolish and embarrassed for expecting him too. "Never mind." He gave up. He was speaking a language Megaman didn't even know to look for. Something based in common experience and synced feelings, in subtle body language and awkward words with different meanings. "I'm sorry." He simply blurted out, forcing himself at this point.

"Sorry?" Megaman didn't look at him this time, his stomach churned nervously and he felt his heart began to beat harder with anticipation. He didn't know exactly what Enzan was apologizing for but he had a feeling.

"For…Zero." He answered timidly.

"Why are you apologizing to me? I'm the one who…"

And for a moment a sync formed between them. "Yeah, I know." Enzan nodded. "Sorry about that, I know how aggravating that is."

_But never forgets what I lost_

_Wake me up when September ends_

Megaman rubbed the back of his head and his eyes grew an alarmed alertness. "Well I uh…you're not aggravating me-" He quickly said, not wanting Enzan to get that perception. "-I didn't mean to-"

"I know, I know." Enzan waved his hand dismissativly. "It's annoying as hell hearing stuff like that all the time."

Megaman's eyes were tinted with a timid cautiousness, but also with a silent agreement. "Hmm…It's just…misguided. "

"Your too nice for your own good." Enzan laughed softly.

"No, I mean I appreciate it really." Megaman said. "It's just… "

"That people keep telling you that all the time, in that same voice." Enzan said with resentment.

"And that look." Megaman agreed. "But, It's not their fault it's…well..."

"Annoying." Enzan let out a deep breath and relaxed a little. "I guess I can't blame anyone, what else can they say?" If Enzan knew the answer to that question his life would be a lot easier.

They sat together in silence, contemplating the complexity of the emotions people felt, and how collectively incapable they all were of conveying the feelings of concern, sorrow, sympathy, and utter yearning for connection. When people simply want to let them know of just how strongly they want the other to feel better they seemed to be limited by the options of "I'm sorry." Or "Are you ok?" or other phrases that don't accurately enunciate empathy.

"Your leaving?" Megaman asked.

Enzan nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you coming back?"

"I don't know."

"…Hn." Megaman nodded with a vague understanding. "I'm sorry to see you go…it's gonna seem even more incomplete with out you two around."

"…" Enzan hadn't really though of what it would be like after he left, he imagined it would feel nearly as empty for them as it would for him. A depressing loneliness came over him at the thought, he'd be away some place that should have felt like home but didn't, separated from what had become like his…his family at such a time. 'Damn.' His body seemed to feel things of it's own accord, his eyes began burning with coming tears no matter how steady he held his mind. "See ya Megaman." He said hastily, quickly standing up and beginning his descent down the stairs.

"Hey wait." Megaman called out, standing up abruptly. "I'll come with you too the door."

"No!" Enzan quickly objected, shaking his head. "Don't…Don't worry about it ok."

"But Enzan-"

Enzan didn't slow down a bit, he tried to speed up in fact. "Just…don't."

"…" Megaman was still with indecisiveness for a moment, before he inevitably complied, completely perplexed. "…Goodbye Enzan…"

_Summer has come and passed_

_The innocent can never last_

! - ! - !

Enzan pushed his way out of the stairwell door and pushed it closed as if something was pursuing, then he lead against it, sniffling sharply as he quickly wiped his eyes with his arm. He could hear the chaotic sounds of the first floor around him, the clamor of voices, the noises of construction, all of it blended and faded into an unnoticed ambient mesh. 'Why am I crying again!' He clinched his jaw tightly and his face contorted in anger, more tears running down the side of his face. He grunted in aggravation, banging his head against the cold metal.

"…" Blues folded his arms and closed his eyes again, waiting silently.

Enzan laid his arm across his eyes and sucked in deep breaths, trying to keep himself from sobbing and sniffling.

"It won't be forever." Blues finally said. "You can come back later." An uncertain attempt at consoling him. When it came to his words Blues was as ungraceful as Enzan was, such a statement wouldn't make him feel better, it made little difference, and he was certain Enzan had probably thought all of that out.

"I know that." Enzan said curtly, feeling angry from the shame of having Blues watch him cry again. "I just…don't want to-"

"Yeah." Blues nodded with understanding, Enzan didn't have to say it, and he didn't want to make him.

Enzan let his arm drop to his side and he stared up at the ceiling in silence until his blurry vision beginning to clear. Then he lifted the P.E.T from his waist. "What about you? You want to stay?" He asked.

"Huh?" Blues looked up at him questioningly. "What? Why?"

"I mean there's no reason for both of us to leave." Enzan said. "You can stay with Tadashi."

_Wake me up when September ends_

_Like my father's come to pass_

"That would mean you'd actually have to go back and talk to him." Blues said with his own amusement.

"Yeah, funny." Enzan rolled his eyes. "No, really, you could, it would work out well."

Blues' voice became a little quieter. "And leave you to go crazy by yourself. No way." It was the other way around actually, He wasn't sure if it was possible for Enzan to need him as much as he needed Enzan right now. With the crushing depression inside of him that seemed unbearable, he'd started to latch on to Enzan with out even realizing it, and Enzan always sensed what he needed. He knew when he wanted distance and when he needed to be close, when he didn't want to talk and when he _needed_ to talk, when he was slipping down and needed someone to catch him before he broke completely.

"I'll be alright." Enzan knew he'd be miserable with out Blues, but he didn't care about himself right now, his concerns were of Blues' well being. He didn't want him to feel the same sense of separation he did. "It'd just be easier for you if you stuck around them."

"Tch, No it wouldn't." Blues said in his usual unconcerned way, trying to seem as unaffected as possible. "Why break up the team?" He shrugged.

"…" Enzan tilted his head back again and closed his eyes. Team…they were a team. He was his best friend…which is why he pushed so hard for this. "Blues are you-"

"Damnit, it's not gonna bring Zero back." Blues grunted, and he could practically feel Enzan tense at that name that was always used so carefully, as though it were dangerous.

"No, it wont." Enzan said softly. "I know nothing will, but that's not the point. I…I…" Enzan's mouth hung open slightly as he tried to form the words, but he lacked the capacity to express what he felt for Blues. He doubted any words could have displayed the depth of what he felt.

"…" Blues let out a soft sigh, he understood, just as he always did. He was depressed, sometimes quietly, sometime angry, sometimes crushingly. Enzan was depressed, sometimes silently and withholding, always aggravated and easily agitated, and sometime he simply broke down. Because as indifferent and cold as he showed himself to be, he wasn't always strong enough. And as stoic and callous as Blues showed himself to be, he wasn't as strong as he might have seemed. This closely guarded secret was something only the two of them understood about each other.

_Twenty years has gone so fast_

_Wake me up when September ends_

"…" Enzan slowly sank down to the ground and sat, his head tilted back over and his body still. His chest felt heavy, like a weight pushing against his heart and lungs making it heard to breathe. They could talk about the sadness and vague loneliness they felt, the now utter disconnect of being torn from their new family, or just how horrible they felt about the things that happened, or the things they did. But that was something neither of them did.

5 long minutes went past. Blues sat with his arms folded and his head down, looking as though he was sleeping. He wanted to sleep, god he just wanted to sleep… But that would be too easy wouldn't it? "You're going to miss your flight." Blues said.

"…Hn." Enzan dropped his head and with a sigh he grabbed on to the door handle, it was hard, his legs trembled under the strain. But he was patient, he'd done this many times before, he knew the strength would come if he just waited long enough. After nearly slipping with his weakness he managed to stand and take a step forward. "Let's go."

_Wake me up when September ends_

_Wake me up when September ends_

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

That's it. It's finished! The story is over, I hope you enjoyed. I'm glad some of you stuck it out unto the end. So, review, tell me what you thought of it. SDI

That's it. It's finished! The story is over, I hope you enjoyed. I'm glad some of you stuck it out unto the end. So, review, tell me what you thought of it. SDI

And since this is my last blurb, I'd like to thank everyone for giving me the will to finish. I have to say I really liked this story, when I first wrote it, it ended at chapter 12, but it felt incomplete. Too many things left undone. So last year I went on, and I returned a better writer then when I did the first part, and I tried to be as expressive as I could, sometimes I wasn't quite where I wanted to be, but other times I was so captivated in the scene that I couldn't stop. The scene in chapter 20 with Megaman and Lan in the hosptial was one, but I have to say 21 was my favorite. When zero died the first time I was just in the right mood with the right music going. 

It's strange how music can really drive, not the scene, but the emotions behind it. It helped a lot. And i suppose if you were wondering I was listening to 'Time' by ben folds five when I came up with the actual death scene. I could give you the play list for most of this story and I have to say most of it was pretty depressing. The scene from day 3 in chapter 17 was also a favorite, when Tadashi and Zero were in the kitchen. And the one with megaman at the end was pretty good foreshadowing I can say. A lot of people seemed to notice that I was going somewhere, I was just moving really, really slowly for a while. I was setting up the base for development, I really focused on Zero since he was the main focus of the story.

The scenes at the end of chapter 18 and at the end of 26 when Tadashi told Zero about what happened what is father and the scar on his back was something I was thinking about, I spread it out pretty far for pacing. As the story came closer to the end everyone became increasingly desperate and reaching for some kind of connection with Zero, Blues the most out of everyone, I can't really count all of their scenes that I liked.

The weather was also a subtle thing through out the story, starting with chapter 20 (I think) I started putting more emphases on it, until it came to a head in chapter 27 and even more so in 28. A really tough competitor for my favorite part had to be in chapter 25 when Enzan was wondering through the flooded basement, this part and chapter 28 really added an element of fear to Enzan, at least I tried too.

And, finally, the thing I kept trying to give the sense that Zero was gonna die, a very common thread through out the story. He died about 3 times, the first time he came back from the '201102 virus', the second time Blues brought him out of it. I wonder how many of you thought Zero would survive in the end and how many of you kinda sensed he wouldn't. Even when Tasdashi couldn't figure anything out besides a way to kill him. Really, tell me, I think it would be interesting to what you guys thought, what did you think about Zero, what was your favorite part, what did you like and what did you hate? What did you want to see more and less of? What did i do right and wrong? It would be helpful for future stories, I am improving, but I'd be so much better with the right feed back.

You guys have been a great audience, thanks for reading, and do forget to hit that review button and tell me what you thought.

SDI


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